Chameleon
by DragonHeartStringCore
Summary: A stranger comes into Hermione's life and she feels instantly drawn to him. Who is this mysterious man, and what is he hiding? (LM/HG)
1. Stranger

**After attempting several other Lucius/Hermione stories and scrapping them before they even got to my Beta, I've finally started one which will hopefully end up being as good as, if not better, than my previous ones (and hopefully pretty long). Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer – Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling etc.**

* * *

><p>Four years into her time at the Ministry, and Hermione Granger was already at the top of her game.<p>

She was currently the Head Researcher and Consultant for Minister Shacklebolt and the other heads of department. If anything needed looking into, unclear laws, lost magic, you name it, and Hermione could find it out for you. It meant that she always had variation in her work, something which helped to keep it interesting, she doubted that she could stand doing the same thing all the time, and also allowed her to continue her passion to learn and discover.

On weekends however, Hermione worked towards her other goal - becoming a potions master under Professor Severus 'of-course-I-took-a-precautionary-antidote' Snape.

When going back to Hogwarts to finish her NEWTs, Hermione had discovered a new found passion for potions. She had always thought it to be a very interesting topic, but her enthusiasm for the subject had been limited somewhat by Professor Snape's apparent poor opinion of her. That, however,had changed in seventh year.

Severus had recovered from the attack by Nagini through the use of the antidote that had been used on Arthur Weasley back in her fifth year, and once he'd recovered, surprisingly enough, just wanted to take up his old position in the potions lab again.

Hermione had managed to wear down the professors resolve and had persuaded him to take her on as his personal apprentice, something anyone in the potions world would dream of, so now she spent her weekends back at Hogwarts, studying under her now favourite teacher.

Today, however, was Monday, and Hermione sat in her large oval office which overlooked the atrium, going through the list of work she had to do. It was larger than usual this week, not that it mattered too much because she could delegate the jobs amongst the several witches and wizards who worked under her in her small department, but it was always nice to have a good selection.

There was a request from the Department of Mysteries to see whether there was any way to fix all the time-turners that were stuck in a continuous loop – tactfully leaving out that it was Hermione and her friends which had inadvertently caused it to happen back in their fifth year. A research task from the Department of Magical Creatures about a cure for an outbreak of a particularly nasty scale disease in dragons. A slighter longer and more complicated request from the Department of Muggle Relations to put together a team to try and make muggle electrics functional around magic, something Hermione was glad she wasn't being asked to do herself as she was sure she really didn't have enough time, well, at least until she worked out a way to get all of those time-turners fixed.

The list went on until she came to two letters addressed specifically to herself. The first was from the aurors, and enquired whether she had made any progress on her polyjuice research. Since hearing of the potions frequent use in the war, especially to cause trouble, they had decided it best that they knew as much as possible about it. They also needed high quality batches for witness protection during court cases, amongst other things, and had entrusted Hermione, the expert she was on the topic, with the job.

She had done well so far, testing and documenting all its properties and effects, and a couple of months back had even managed to make an improved version. This one didn't need to be drunk nearly so often and its effects could be removed by the drinker with a simple spell, and it's only fault was one minor side effect which could be easily remedied. Suffice to say that even Professor Snape had been mildly impressed with that, not forgetting to mention however that it was most likely due to his excellent tutoring that she had accomplished it.

Making a note to get back to them with her latest findings soon, Hermione opened the second letter which she noted was sealed with the Minister's crest. It was an invitation to a meeting that afternoon, he did apologise for the late notice at least, about the upcoming anniversary of their victory over Voldemort.

This would be the fifth year and in order to commemorate it he wanted to do something really special and was putting together a team to make it happen, a team he wanted Hermione to be a part of. Sure, she had strong connections with the war, was well connected within the Ministry and wizarding world, was damn good at getting things done, but Hermione still wasn't entirely sure why she had been asked. She supposed there must be a good reason for it and decided not to think on it now, sure all would become clear after the meeting.

Three o'clock came around all too quickly and Hermione made it to the meeting with just a minute to spare, glad to see that she didn't look to be the last one there.

She recognised almost everyone present, all relatively big names within the Ministry, but a few less well known who Hermione knew were very good at what they did. Blaise Zabini was there from the Auror Department, probably to act as a liaison as he was assistant to the chief of security, and so was Neville Longbottom, Hogwarts newest and youngest herbology professor, who waved at her cheerily from the other side of the room. Most would have probably been surprised by his presence, but so many often forgot the strong ties he had with the order, the war, and Hogwarts that made him very knowledgeable on the topic.

Hermione knew that Harry wouldn't be here and was unsurprised to see that she was right. He would probably make a speech at the event but was fully committed to his role as an auror which usually had him away on long missions, making it impractical for him to be involved in something like this.

With fifteen seconds to go until three, the last person entered the room, walked over to the now only available chair, the one directly opposite Hermione's, and elegantly sat down, placed some parchment and a quill on the large table, and leant back comfortably just as the clock began to chime.

The Minister nodded to the man in greeting, and then began to tell them about what he wanted them to do. Hermione wanted to listen, she really did, but was thoroughly distracted by the man listening attentively to the Minister's words opposite her.

She didn't recognise him, that was the first thing that caught her attention. It was surprising since she could easily identify every other witch and wizard in the room and the reasons that they were invited to the meeting.

Secondly, was his appearance. He was tall, 6'3 at least, with a broad chest, and had sharply cut dark hair that was well styled. Hermione suspected he was in his forties, although it was always hard to tell with wizards as the powerful ones tended to age so slowly. He dressed well, very well in fact, his robes clearly the best money could buy, and fit him perfectly. His face in itself was nothing special, but his expression and demeanour were something else. He seemed confident, but not arrogant, intelligent, level-headed, a man who was very much in control, and something about the way his lips turned up at the corner when he smiled sent a shiver up her spine.

She felt inexplicably drawn to him, this man she'd never seen before, and it took a considerable amount of her concentration to focus on the Minister instead of him.

"This year, in order to properly commemorate the anniversary, we plan to make this the biggest event yet, but, my primary goal, is to celebrate those we lost and look to the future." Shacklebolt explained, before starting to introduce all the people at the table, thirty at least, and what they would be doing.

"I'm sure you all know Miss Granger." He said as he came to her. "Hermione, I would like you to help make an official record of all the events from Voldemorts return until his demise. We thought that it was about time we had one, especially now that all the trials are finally over, and that it would go nicely with the book remembering those lost in the war which Miss Lovegood has been producing."

"I look forward to the challenge." Hermione agreed with a smile, trying to hide the fact that she was a little worried about how daunting this job would be. At least she realised why she was here now, this was going to involve an awful lot of research and investigating.

"Excellent, well, that brings me onto the person who will be helping you with this." Said the Minister, turning to the man sitting opposite her. "I would like to introduce Mr Ezra Godtro, who has come here today specifically to help with this task."

"It is a pleasure to be here." Ezra replied, his voice low and smooth. "And to be working with such a talented witch." He added, his eyes settling on Hermione.

Their gazes connected for a mere second as he inclined his head towards her in greeting, that small, enticing smile on his lips, and Hermione couldn't help but notice the most striking part of his otherwise ordinary face.

His shining grey eyes.

* * *

><p><strong>I know it's a short chapter but I wanted to post it before I decided to back out again, because once even one person has started reading it and shown an interest I know I'll feel motivated to carry on with it.<strong>

**I've got very little work to do at the moment and no internet at home (yes, it has been hell , after two months it gets really old), so with any luck I'll be able to get the next chapter done pretty swiftly.**


	2. Just Your Average Man

The meeting continued for quite some time, it was almost six by the time they were done, but for Hermione, time had flown.

Instead of listening like she knew she should be, she couldn't seem to stop her mind from wandering to the intriguing man she would be working with.

Ezra, she recognised the name, had seen it in a few case files she'd had to take a look at. As far as she knew, he was a private investigator the Minister had hired to help to collect evidence for many of the death eater trials. No one Hermione knew had ever met him as far as she knew, it seemed that he was a man who kept to the shadows, probably important in his line of work, so she thought it strange that he should be participating in what would no doubt be a high profile event. Then again, all the war trials had just been completed after five long years, so she supposed it wasn't so important that he hide away anymore. In fact, she was surprised he wasn't on holiday considering all the work she suspected he'd been doing since the war, but perhaps he was one of those people who couldn't stop, just like her.

She understood why Ezra would be working with her considering his previous line of work, he must know an awful lot about the war from the dark side's perspective, something which she was sure it would be important that they document too in order to portray as complete a record as possible.

Something, however, was bothering Hermione about him, and she couldn't quite work out what it was. All the facts about him did not appear to match the man she saw in front of her.

This man was bold, tenacious, had an aristocratic air about him that was hard to fake, a confidence which came from years of leading, and it wasn't what she expected him to be at all. A man with that job, one who must be as good at it as he was, was supposed to be quiet, most likely a little cold, perhaps unintentionally so, and unlikely to attract much attention to himself.

Now that she looked at him closely, as subtly as she could of course, she did see that his face in itself was very, to put it flatly, plain, unmemorable, the perfect face for if you didn't want to be noticed or remembered. Well, it would be, if it weren't for those incredible eyes, and the way he dressed, and his impressive height…in fact, he seemed to be rebelling against the form he had been given.

Sighing, Hermione tried to stop thinking about him, nothing seemed to quite add up but she supposed that perhaps she just couldn't accept that Ezra wasn't what she expected, and despite being all grown up now, she still didn't like to be wrong.

At last the meeting came to an end and everyone stood to leave. Ezra pushed his chair back and made to stand, his hand seeming to reach for something that wasn't there, and he clenched his fist around thin air, his brow creasing in irritation. He glanced up and caught Hermione watching him, and his features quickly returned to normal, any signs of his frustration gone.

Hermione could feel her cheeks reddening at being caught looking at him and decided to make it seem like she had been intending to catch his attention.

"Mr Godtro." She called as she made her way around the table to talk to him, realising just how tall he was when she was stood next to him.

"Please, Miss Granger, call me Ezra." He replied smoothly with a friendly smile as the Minister walked past, one which, although appearing genuine, didn't quite seem to be.

"Alright, Ezra." Hermione continued unperturbed. "When would be convenient for you to meet in order for us to start planning what we need to do?"

"Well, if you don't have any plans this evening, we could always discuss it over dinner?" He suggested. "I would prefer to get started as soon as possible."

Normally, Hermione would have declined. It had been a long day and she had a strong urge to go home and read a book, but she was curious about him and couldn't help but want to find out more.

"Sure." She agreed. "Shall we meet in the atrium in, say, twenty minutes, while I go and close up my office and change?"

"That sounds perfect." He agreed as he turned to leave, his long coat elegantly flowing behind him. "See you then."

* * *

><p>Hermione was glad she'd asked for twenty minutes as picking what to wear had proven to be a more complicated task than usual. She kept quite a few clothes in her office for situations such as this but for some reason, tonight, she wanted to impress.<p>

Eventually, she found a dress she was sure she hadn't worn in quite some time and decided that it was perfect. It was simple yet formal and would look appropriate no matter where they went, although, she had a hunch that they might be going somewhere high class on account of her partners apparent very good taste.

She kept telling herself that she definitely hadn't chosen it because it hugged her in all the right places whilst not giving everything away, why on earth would she have even thought about that…

* * *

><p>They arrived in the now empty atrium at the same time as each other, exactly on time.<p>

"You look, lovely." Said Ezra as he saw her, his eyes quickly sweeping over her seemingly of their own accord, and it almost seemed as though the words had escaped his lips without his permission.

"Thank you." Hermione replied with a smile, happier than she normally would be to hear someone compliment her.

"Shall we?" He asked, offering her his arm after swiftly composing himself.

"Where are we going?" She enquired as she took it.

Ezra simply smiled the smile which had caught her attention in the first place, the one which made him look ever so sinful and enticing at the same time, as if to say that she would find out when they got there.

* * *

><p>Hermione had been right, they were going somewhere expensive, and she was glad she had chosen to wear what she had.<p>

It was a wizarding restaurant in London called The Ironbelly and, despite being named after a species of dragon, was a pretty exclusive establishment, Hermione having only been there a few times herself. Ezra removed his arm from her own when they arrived and lead the way inside. It seemed as though he had been here many times although the staff didn't appear to recognise him, and they were led to a reserved table on the first floor which overlooked the city.

"How did you manage to reserve a table at such short notice?" Hermione asked, impressed, as they sat down. It seemed as though this man would never stop surprising her.

"I've had it for quite some time and it was simply a stroke of luck that our meeting was scheduled for the same day, otherwise I would have been without your delightful company." Ezra explained causing a smile to come unbidden to Hermione's lips.

He ordered a bottle of wine which wasn't on the wine list, one which the waiter said that they actually had since an old client of theirs used to have it brought in by request. It was a rare bottle if Hermione recalled correctly, and she realised that Ezra must have very good taste if that's what he wanted.

"Have you had it before?" He enquired as the bottle arrived, ever so slightly dusty.

"Yes actually." Hermione replied. "A friend and I went to dinner here once and he ordered the same thing."

"Oh really?" He said, one of his eyebrows raised in mild surprise. "And who is this, _friend_, of yours?" Ezra asked with a glint of intrigue in his eyes.

"Draco Malfoy."

The man before her who always seemed in near perfect control if his expressions seemed to lose his composure at her words, his eyes widening in shock as he almost choked on his wine.

"Are you alright Ezra?" Hermione asked as he coughed, strangely enough feeling genuinely concerned for his wellbeing.

"Yes." He answered distractedly. "Thank you."

"I didn't know you and Draco were close." He added, and it struck Hermione as odd. Sure, a lot of people assumed that she and her childhood nemesis didn't get along, but Ezra seemed so sure of his words, as if he knew the two well.

"I suppose it isn't exactly common knowledge, we do try to keep it discreet."

"Why discreet?" Ezra questioned, sounding far more interested than she would have expected, a look on his face she couldn't quite place. It seemed like he was confused, but about what, Hermione couldn't be sure.

"Well, with both of us still in the public eye I'm sure Rita Skeeter would have a field day if she saw us going out together." Hermione explained. "You know how she is, making stories out of nothing, and neither Draco nor I want false rumours about us all over the Daily Prophet."

"I see." Said Ezra with a sigh of what Hermione could only call relief. "She really is awful isn't she?" He added, a true venom in his voice.

"I think awful is an understatement." She agreed with a laugh.

* * *

><p>As the evening went on it became apparent that Ezra and she shared similar views on many more matters than just how annoying Rita Skeeter was, and Hermione enjoyed his company greatly. It had been quite some time since she'd had such stimulating and intellectual conversation, the only others who came close were Draco and Severus.<p>

They talked about politics, the recovery of the wizarding world, recent magical advances and everything in between. Ezra seemed not to want to talk about his personal life so Hermione didn't press him about it, she knew that for some people it was difficult to share their pasts, and he didn't try to ask her about hers either. She hoped that, perhaps, they would find out more about each other in the future.

Strange, why did she want that?

Eventually, as the waiter came with the bill, they decided they needed to talk about their job, it _was_ why they had come here after all.

"I suggest that we take the week to document everything each of us already knows and then meet next Monday to combine our knowledge and go from there." Hermione proposed.

"That seems like a good idea." Ezra agreed as he signed the cheque. "A week should be enough to get everything sorted."

With that, they bid their farewells and went their separate ways. It was not until Hermione was getting into bed, definitely not thinking about her new, rather magnetic acquaintance, that she realised that she had no way of contacting Ezra to organise their next meeting.

He could always contact her at the Ministry but suppose she needed to talk to him about something urgent for whatever reason, how would she do it? She had absolutely no idea where he lived or worked.

At that very moment, she was startled by a pecking sound on her window, so cautiously made her way over to her curtains and peered through them.

She let out a sigh of relief when she saw it was simply an owl, so opened the latch to let the bird inside. It was a striking creature, large, its feathers pitch black and its eyes a familiar shade of grey, almost looking like shining silver in the darkness.

There was only one person she could imagine possessing such a beautiful bird and her thoughts were confirmed when she read the small letter clasped in its beak, sealed with dot of crestless dark green wax. This was Ezra's owl, and he apologised for not thinking of it earlier, but should she need to talk to him then she should send the owl, whose name was apparently Leku, as it was the only one who knew where he lived.

When Hermione finished reading the note she realised that she was smiling, simply reading his words and knowing that he thought of her made her inexplicably happy, and she chose to ignore the fact that her heart was beating a little bit faster.

Hermione sighed, not wanting to think about exactly why she was feeling this way, and welcomed the owl into her home. Transfiguring a coat rack into a large perch which she placed in her room, she provided Leku with some food and water and climbed back into bed.

She felt strangely safe and comforted having the owl watch over her, although she hoped Crookshanks wouldn't bother him too much, suspecting that her cat would probably come off worse anyway if the two didn't get along.

Hermione was excited about this job, it would be interesting and the results most likely very satisfying, but she told herself that her excitement most definitely had nothing at all to do with the man who would be helping her with it.

The mysterious Ezra Godtro.

* * *

><p>He sat by the fire, whiskey in hand, as he stared at the book he was reading, none of its words sinking in.<p>

His mind was elsewhere and he felt inexplicably and uncharacteristically confused.

He knew he had to be nice to her, he had to prove that he could, to gain her trust, but he didn't have to actually enjoy doing so.

So why was it that he couldn't get Hermione Granger out of his head?

* * *

><p><strong>Well there it is, chapter 2. I expect, at least to start with, they might be short but relatively frequent.<strong>

**Apologies for not all that much happening so far, I'm still not 100% on top of the plot yet, but I'm hoping the specifics will sort themselves out as I go along. **

**Note: Leku is pronounced Leck-oo, if anyone was wondering. Those of you familiar with the game Okami might get the tenuous reference there.**

**Also, has anyone found Ezra's second name interesting at all…hint hint.**


	3. Suspicion

It was Friday, and Hermione had already made good progress with documenting what she knew, starting from Voldemort's first reappearance when she began at Hogwarts. It had been easy enough so far to record everything that had happened with Harry and, with the help of Neville, everything that occurred at Hogwarts while she was gone.

In order to make sure she knew everything the Order had done, she had asked to meet with Minister Shacklebolt who kept all the notes from their meetings and had been more involved with all of their activities and missions than she had been.

So, at two that afternoon, she found herself waiting outside the Minister's office.

"Ah, Hermione." Kingsley greeted when he opened the door, gesturing her inside. "I do hope I didn't keep you waiting."

"Not at all Minister, you're right on time."

"Please, Hermione, how many times have I told you that you needn't call me Minister, Kingsley will do just fine." He said with a smile as he offered her a seat.

"Alright Min-, I mean, Kingsley." She joked. It was strange, even though she'd called him Kingsley before, these days she couldn't seem to stop addressing him by his formal title. Snape, on the other hand, who she had addressed formally as Professor for over seven years, was now, much to his dismay, Severus, and, as far as she was concerned, always would be.

"I've prepared everything for you already and added anything that was missing." He explained as he lifted what seemed to be a very heavy box of papers onto the table. "I'm afraid there's quite a lot." He added with an apologetic smile.

"Don't worry, this will be fine, I'm sure I'll get through it fast enough." Hermione reassured him, her voice full of determination.

"Have you been having any trouble finding anything out so far?" Kingsley enquired.

"Not so far no, but I expect when it comes to finding out about what the other side was up to might be harder." Hermione mused. "But I suppose I could always ask Severus if I get stuck, or maybe even take a trip to Azkaban to question people…mind you, I'd much rather go and visit Lucius instead at his mansion, never thought I'd be happy about him being under house arrest, but if it means I don't have to go to the prison… "

"Severus might be helpful but I'm sure you'll get nothing useful from Malfoy." He said with a frown, his tone filled with an edge of warning that surprised Hermione. "Besides, it might be hard for you to convince the aurors to let you past security at the place."

"I suppose…" She said dejectedly, suspecting that she could easily get into the mansion with Draco's help if she wanted to anyway, despite him being relatively distant from his father these days.

"But otherwise everything else is going well?" He asked, his friendly smile returning.

"Yes, no problems yet."

"Excellent." He smiled. "I really don't know who else I could have asked to do this Hermione, you really are the best."

"Well I'm sure Ezra would have been able to handle it without me, but I'm happy to be a part of it."

"Oh yes." Said Kingsley, his happy demeanour shifting ever so slightly to something Hermione couldn't quite place. "Ezra, how has he been behaving?"

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, intrigued by the strange way the Minister had phrased his question. Why not '_how is he?' 'do you like him?' 'are you working well together?'_.

"I just mean, has he been helpful and polite." He explained. "Sometimes in the past I've found him to be a little, how should I put this…prejudiced."

"No no, we got on very well in fact, he is a very amicable man." Said Hermione, seemingly unaware that her lips had pulled into a small smile that didn't go unnoticed by Kingsley.

"Good, I'm glad to hear it." He said, his voice calm but his expression looking slightly confused, maybe even a little concerned.

There was a knock on the door and the Minister's aide came in. "Sorry to disturb." She apologised. "But you have a meeting with the group from Gringotts in five minutes."

"Ah, of course, I'll be there in a moment. Apologies Hermione, I would really have liked the chance to catch up with you but I'm still so busy all the time." He said sounding a little tired.

"Well perhaps when the anniversary is over you'll have a little more time." She suggested.

"Yes, I don't think I will run in this year's elections either, so perhaps I will." He smiled. "Anyway, I better be off, you know how those goblins are about punctuality."

* * *

><p>On the way back to her office, levitating the heavy box behind her, Hermione could not help but think over her short conversation with the Minister.<p>

What he had said about Ezra was most peculiar. He had asked if he was behaving, said that he was prejudiced, and she wondered how anyone could think that about what seemed to her to be a charismatic, intelligent and all around pleasant man.

Something definitely seemed strange about his reaction to what she said about Ezra too, and Lucius Malfoy now she thought about it. What was it that the Minister was hiding? And why was it that Ezra became more of a puzzle with each passing day?

It did however, now make a little more sense to her why they were going all out with this five year anniversary. If it was the last year Kingsley was to be Minister then it was reasonable to assume that he would want to make his last one something to remember.

* * *

><p>That evening, after thinking about him nearly all afternoon, a seemingly common occurrence of late, not that she would admit it, Hermione decided to finally contact Ezra.<p>

She asked him if meeting on Monday was still convenient, and when and where would be best for him. It was helpful that her job involved being out of the office a lot when she was investigating as it allowed her the freedom to do her work out of the Ministry if she so chose to. She also let him know that she would be at Hogwarts on the weekend, as she was every weekend, just so he knew where to send replies to.

* * *

><p>Early the next morning and Hermione was in the potions lab waiting for what would no doubt be a rather grumpy Severus. Who knew it would have taken her this long to work out that he wasn't exactly what you would call a morning person.<p>

"Why is it that I find your constant punctuality mildly irritating?" Came a low drawl from the door announcing the Professors arrival.

"Because you find the majority of things in life irritating." Teased Hermione.

"Of course, how could I have forgotten?" He said dryly, the almost imperceptible smile in the left corner of his lips the only thing that would tell you that he was in fact joking.

This week they were continuing with their focus on antidotes, Severus insisting that Hermione must master them before they began poisons.

"Had any interesting jobs this week?" Severus asked in an attempt to make idle conversation as they chopped ingredients together.

"Quite a few yes, but I've had to give them all to the others as I've been given a pretty big task to do for the upcoming anniversary."

"And what would that be?" He questioned and, although many would have thought him to be simply asking what he was supposed to, Hermione had learnt very early on in her apprenticeship that he was actually interested most of the time.

"I've been asked to make a record of all the events that occurred since Voldemort's return." She explained. "It's probably going to take a while but I'm pretty excited about what the final piece will be like."

"That does, for once, actually sound interesting." Severus agreed. "You're not doing this alone are you?" He asked sceptically. "I know you're very good at what you do but it seems like a vert demanding task."

"Well I've got one person helping me with it which I'm sure will be enough."

"And who is it you're working with?" He questioned, looking mildly intrigued. "Some Ministry idiot no doubt."

"Hey, I'm a Ministry idiot too." She protested as she flicked a piece of chopped bezoar dangerously close to the Professors head.

"Now, now, you may work for the Ministry but you most certainly are not an idiot." He explained. "Although, your aim could do with some work." He added with a smirk.

"I'll grant you that." She said with a smile.

"So, who is it that you'll be working with?" He asked.

"A man called Ezra Godtro, have you heard of him?"

The rhythmic sound of chopping which came from Severus' desk came to an abrupt stop and a frown appeared on his face, one which in the past he would have looked odd without.

"I've heard the name." He said casually as his chopping resumed. "I'm presuming you've met him then?"

"Yes, we went for dinner on Monday to discuss our plans for the project."

"Dinner?" Severus questioned with a raised eyebrow. "Let me guess, you went to The Ironbelly?"

"How did you know?" Hermione asked, a look of confusion etched on her face. Severus Snape always seemed to know things that she thought it impossible that he knew, but this was a step too far.

"I'd heard it was his favourite." Severus answered after a moment of hesitation.

"So you know him then?"

"Not particularly no, just his reputation, but a friend of mine saw you there on Monday so I connected the dots." He explained smoothly.

Hermione wasn't so sure she believed the Professor, the part about having friends being the main part which stuck out as peculiar to her. As far as she knew, Severus had a few very select close friends, something she envied him for on occasion, and she had not seen one of them there that evening. Minerva would have been at Hogwarts, she was fairly sure Narcissa, now Black, was still in Italy, and Lucius Malfoy wasn't allowed to leave his estate, so who he was referring to she really had no idea.

"What is he like?" Severus asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Not what you'd expect. He's intelligent, charming, interesting, he has this presence that just emanates power and draws you in." She explained, getting a little carried away.

"Sounds like exactly what I'd expect…" Severus muttered.

"What?" Hermione asked.

"I was just saying that it sounds as though you're rather fond of him." He said, smirking when Hermione's cheeks went red.

"Well, yes, I mean he's a very pleasant man, and I'm sure he will be great to work with." She clarified, now staring intently at her cauldron.

"Whatever you say." Severus said with a chuckle, a rare occurrence indeed.

* * *

><p>When Hermione returned to her room in Gryffindor that evening she was greeted by Leku holding a letter. She gently took it from him and stroked his head, the owl leaning into her palm almost looking as if he were smiling. Leku had warmed to her very quickly and after seeing Hermione stroking Crookshanks, had seemingly decided he would like the same treatment, Hermione being more than happy to give his smooth feathers as much attention as he liked.<p>

Once Leku seemed content she looked at the letter, unsurprised to again see the crestless dark green wax.

_Dear Miss Granger,_

_I do in fact have business to attend to at Hogwarts this Sunday, so perhaps, if you are not busy, we could meet in the evening to discuss our progress.  
>Hoping your work is going well,<em>

_Ezra _(the E looking like it had previously been an L) _Godtro._

_P.S. I hope you are not having any trouble with Leku, he has been known to bite._

Smiling at Leku as she petted his head again, feeling rather smug that the owl liked her so much, she started to write a reply, telling him that they should meet tomorrow evening at seven outside the great hall.

As Hermione lay in bed that night, content in her sheets displaying her old house colours, she couldn't help but think about the fact that yet another person had had a most curious reaction to Ezra, deciding as she drifted off to sleep that perhaps it was time she do some investigating.

* * *

><p>That Sunday was one of the slowest Sundays Hermione had had in a long time.<p>

"Somewhere pressing you need to be Hermione?" Severus asked when Hermione checked her watch for about the tenth time in fifteen minutes.

"What? No, just keeping an eye on the brewing time." She lied, surprised that the professor seemed to believe her, it would seem that her lying skills had improved dramatically.

"Well actually _I_ need to be somewhere, so I trust you to tidy things up properly while I'm gone." He said, despite knowing she would. "That is, before you rush off to wherever it is you want to be." He added with a sly smile as he swiftly exited the room before any objects could be flung at him.

Damn, turns out her lying skills hadn't improved at all.

* * *

><p>Two hours later and Hermione was waiting outside the great hall in her favourite jeans and a black sweatshirt.<p>

"Miss Granger." Greeted a deep voice from behind and Hermione turned to see Ezra dressed as immaculately as the last time she had seen him, this time in fine black robes with silver threading.

"Hello Ezra." She said with a smile.

"I trust you've been well?" He asked.

"Yes, and you?"

"Very, it is good to be out…working on such a stimulating project."

"I agree." She replied, ignoring his slight hesitation.

"So, where shall we go to talk? Are you staying in the castle?" Ezra asked.

"Up in Gryffindor, but my room isn't very big, perhaps we should go to the library?" Hermione suggested.

"The library, of course." Said Ezra with a smile and, if Hermione was not mistaken, a quiet chuckle.

"So, did you go here too?" She asked as they walked towards the library.

"Yes, I did. Slytherin, if you were wondering."

"Can't say I'm surprised."

"And what do you mean by that?" Ezra questioned, a flicker of hostility in his voice.

"I mean that you remind me a lot of a friend of mine from the house." Hermione explained. "He's very like you, intelligent, a natural leader, skilled at many forms of magic, it just doesn't surprise me that you were in Slytherin. I meant no offence…"

"Sorry." He apologised. "I suppose I assumed you thought of the house negatively."

There it was again, the way he talked sometimes made her feel like he already knew her, but she supposed that it was common knowledge that Gryffindors and Slytherins didn't really get along, so it was a fair enough assumption to make.

"Who's the friend?"

"Draco again. Despite what it sounds like, he isn't my only friend." She joked.

"You think I am similar to Draco?" He asked, sounding oddly happy about the comparison.

"Yes, I think you are, it's strange actually now that I think about it, you're like an older, more mature Draco, but there are definitely differences which make each of you unique."

"Hm, interesting." Ezra mused, his thought now seemingly elsewhere.

Once in the library they spent the evening going over what they'd both discovered and found that the majority of what was missing was to do with the dark sides actions.

"Naturally the Dark Lord was very secretive of his actions so, unsurprisingly, we don't know everything." Explained Ezra.

"True, but I expect there are ways we can find things out, people we can talk to." Hermione suggested, ignoring the fact that Ezra referred to Voldemort as the Dark Lord, an uncommon thing to hear these days. "And I'm sure most things were exposed in the trials, yes." She added, seeing that Ezra was about to counter her point. "But I'm sure there were things left unsaid, things unnecessary for the trials, secrets people didn't share."

"Perhaps." He conceded. "But how do you suppose we go about getting them?" He asked, his voice laced with challenge.

"Well I'll try and talk to Severus first, go through the case files if I can gain access to them, maybe I'll even pay Azkaban a visit." Hermione said with a fire of determination shining brightly in her eyes.

"I doubt we would find anything new." Said Ezra sceptically, Hermione surprised at his lack of enthusiasm. He seemed like he enjoyed learning and discovering, yet didn't appear very motivated now at all.

"We'll see." Said Hermione, deciding she would prove him wrong and find out something new. "In the meantime, I've been preparing a section about horcruxes and the items Voldemort chose to use as his, and I was wondering if you'd be able to take a look through it." She explained as she handed him her research so far. "I was also thinking we should add a chapter on the other creatures and groups that joined Voldemort's ranks, you know, their reasons for doing so, how they joined, what became of them."

"Interesting idea." He said, now seeming to be genuinely enthused again. "You really have thought of everything haven't you?"

"Well, I-." She faltered under his dazzling gaze, the look of admiration in his eyes. "It's my job." She explained, almost cringing at her answer.

"Of course." Ezra agreed with a deep laugh. "It probably has nothing to do with your drive to the very best you can, and definitely not your determination to find out the truth."

"Like you can talk." Hermione said with a slight blush. "What you've managed to find out is seriously impressive, how on earth did you find all this out?"

"Oh, you know, it's my job." He answered innocently before both of them broke into laughter.

They spent the rest of the evening talking again as if they were old friends, this time Ezra even asking about her personal life too.

"So, you and Draco, what exactly is going on there?" He asked with genuine intrigue in his eyes.

"It's much simpler than people tend to think." She explained with a sigh. "When we went back to Hogwarts to finish our seventh year we were paired up on the very first day by Severus in our potions lab and, somehow, we managed to actually work well together. After that we started to get along, and soon enough we were friends, good friends, and he really helped me when…"She trailed off, almost forgetting who she was talking to, sure Ezra didn't really want to know all about that.

"Helped you when what?" Ezra questioned, his face showing what Hermione could only describe as concern.

"Well, it's probably going to sound silly" She started as she stood and wandered over to a window between the shelves. "But when Ron cheated on me, and I broke it off with him, I was sad, I'd been betrayed, lost one of my oldest and dearest friends, someone I had loved, and Draco was the one who was there for me, the one who understood." She confessed as she looked out at the now star filled sky.

"I'm glad to hear that he was there for you." Said Ezra standing behind her as he lightly touched her chin, bringing her back to face him. "And it isn't silly to be sad when someone you care about, someone you trusted, betrays you."

All Hermione could manage was a weak nod, knowing all those feelings of sadness that she always kept locked up deep down inside were rushing to the surface. Without really thinking about it she took a step towards Ezra and wrapped her arms lightly around him.

"I'm sorry." She said quietly after a few seconds had passed and her senses returned. "I know we've not known each other long but I just, I shouldn't have-" She apologised, starting to take a step back, but was cut off but Ezra's arms pulling her into an embrace, her own hold on him tightening of its own accord.

"Don't be sorry." He said softly. "I understand…"

* * *

><p><em>"…More than I will ever be able to tell you." <em>He thought silently.

This wasn't supposed to happen, he wasn't supposed to feel this way, he wasn't supposed to care.

It was as if he was starting to forget who he truly was.

For now, he was someone without sin, without prejudice, someone who hadn't hurt her, and he feared that the strange guilt he could feel forming inside him would become his undoing.


	4. The Man I Was Looking For

After their meeting at Hogwarts, Ezra and Hermione spent almost every day together working on their project. It wasn't necessary that they do all the tasks with each other but one of them always ended up asking and neither had yet declined.

They worked well together, a swift and efficient team, almost a good cop, bad cop, the roles reversing depending on whom they were trying to get information from.

Hermione was enjoying herself, she hadn't had such a riveting or satisfying job in quite some time, and doing it with Ezra made it all the better. Since the evening in the library they had definitely become closer, the gap between partner and friend getting ever smaller, but they had yet to venture too far back into personal territory.

It wasn't until Friday that they went their separate ways, Ezra having an appointment he needed to make, assuring her he would be back for the meeting they had with the Minister later, and Hermione decided to use the time to do something she had been meaning to for the past week.

The more time she spent with Ezra, the more she found it hard to believe that barely anyone seemed to know him, this magnetic man, and the curious reactions people had had to him didn't help to quell her suspicion that something wasn't quite right. She liked him, she really did, more then she would perhaps care to admit, and this drove her to investigate further, wanting to put her feelings of unease to rest.

So, it was with this goal in mind that Hermione found herself talking with the one and only Miss Pansy Parkinson in the Department of Records. Suffice to say that Pansy was not Hermione's biggest fan, never had been, but ever since she and Draco became friends it had gotten significantly worse.

"Good morning Pansy." Hermione greeted as warmly as she could given to whom she was talking, deciding that she would try and make this as painless as possible.

"Granger." Pansy replied coldly as she looked up from her desk. "And what is it you want? Surprised you didn't send one of your underlings here to do your work for you…"

Ignoring the unfounded jab with some difficulty, Hermione pressed forward. "I require access to the Death Eater files, please would you escort me to the record room?" She requested as politely as she could.

"You need level 7 clearance or higher to access that room." Pansy said with a smile that really shouldn't have been there.

"Well, it's a good thing that I have level 9 clearance then isn't it." Hermione informed her feeling just a little bit smug, especially when the smile fell from Pansy's face.

"But that's a level below the Chief of Security and the Minister himself!" She protested in disbelief.

"I can produce the documentation if necessary but I really don't have the time." Hermione said calmly but with an edge of irritation she was sure she had picked up from Ezra. "So, if you'd be so kind, please take me to the files."

Pansy looked about to argue, but with a sigh she stood up and started to lead Hermione through the winding corridors, dispelling various security measures as they went, until they came to their destination.

"Here." She said shortly as she unlocked the door and began to walk away before waiting for any response. "And put the files back where you found them!" She called over her shoulder as she disappeared.

Despite Hermione's dislike for the girl, she could not deny that she did her job well. Although Pansy's allegiances were questionable in the past, when it came down to it she had a very strong sense of loyalty, and currently, that was to her department. From what Hermione had heard, Pansy upheld all the security measures, kept all the records in excellent order, and, despite her clear inability to be civil to certain people, she performed excellently in her role and would probably continue to do so for many years to come.

Hermione wasn't exactly sure what she was looking for, or even if she would find anything of use, but she supposed if nothing else she could perhaps put her suspicions about Ezra to rest. Besides, she still needed to find out a little bit more about what the dark side had been up to for her project, so this would be a great opportunity to look for anything they had missed too.

She looked through the files of many of the major Death Eaters and some other high ranking members of Voldemort's and found a few things of use for her project, but to her it paled in comparison to what she found out about Ezra.

He was listed as finding valuable evidence against all the Death Eaters in their trials, information Hermione was clueless as to how he had obtained. At first, to the casual reader, perhaps even to an intelligent reader, you would probably miss it, perhaps come to simple conclusions about how the information was gathered, but if you looked closely you could see. It was well disguised, the way the evidence had been presented, but it became obvious that some of what was written could only have been known by someone who was there at the time.

Hermione's mind began to race but she did not panic. She had thought about this before, knew Ezra must have been in some slightly darker situations due to his job, but now was convinced that that was the case. She knew many of the Death Eaters were trained to resist veritaserum, so perhaps torture had been used to extract information from them? Hermione dismissed it, she doubted the ministry would resort to that, but perhaps something else? Maybe Ezra was a very talented legilimens, it would explain how he sometimes seemed to know things about her that she was surprised he knew after all.

Deciding that that was the simplest, not to mention most optimistic, explanation, Hermione resolved that she would ask the Minister about it the next time she saw him.

That was, until she looked at the last file in the pile stacked in front of her.

It was one she had always wanted to read, having been curious about the verdict since the day she'd heard it, the case file of the one and only Lucius Malfoy.

His sentence had been, strange, to say the least. It was much more lenient than many, including Hermione, had been expecting or desiring. As the trials went on the results had been getting worse and worse, that is, until they came to Lucius. Malfoy had been given a minimum of five years house arrest where he was not permitted to leave his estate, he was ordered to give 80% of his money to the war recovery effort and, well, and nothing, that was it.

There had been public outcry at the verdict but, the judge insisted, that with the evidence presented that was the maximum sentence she could have given him.

And now, here Hermione was, finally able to see all the evidence for herself. There were a lot of crimes listed but none of them as awful as what she had read in the other Death Eater's files. There was a charge for funding Voldemort's war effort, participating in raids, a few kidnappings and a couple of kills in battle, and, although not as bad as some of his comrades, Hermione still believed he deserved more punishment than he had been given.

Something else was bothering her but she couldn't quite work out what it was at first. Sure, the crimes weren't as bad as she'd hoped they'd be, strangely enough she hadn't expected them to be too bad, she'd always pegged Lucius as more of a figurehead than a pawn, not one to get his hands too dirty, but still something didn't feel right. Re-reading it for the third time she finally realised what was wrong with it.

There was no evidence given by one Mister Ezra Godtro.

* * *

><p>Hermione got to the conference room early this time, sitting in the same spot as she had before, and continued to think as she had done ever since she'd looked through the case files hours ago.<p>

Many questions needed answering, but the one she felt she needed to solve first was why Ezra hadn't given evidence in Lucius' case. So far, she had thought of several explanations.

It was possible, if the mechanism Ezra was using to get his information was legillimecy, that Lucius was too strong an occlumens to give anything away. Alternatively, perhaps Ezra had investigated but found nothing that wasn't already known. Potentially Lucius had bribed Ezra not to present any of the more horrific crimes he had committed, it could explain all of Ezra's fine robes after all, but Hermione doubted that Ezra was a man bothered with such a simple thing as money.

She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she barely noticed as the room filled up around her, only being snapped out of her reverie when a certain man entered whose presence one could simply not ignore.

Ezra smiled as he sat down opposite her, inclining his head in greeting. She smiled back but knew it would look forced, knew Ezra would see that something was bothering her immediately, and she really hoped he wouldn't be able to work out what it was.

The meeting wore on as the Minister updated them on the progress that had been made and informed them of any changes, and yet again, Hermione paid little attention.

She had come to the decision that she wouldn't ask Kingsley about Ezra for now, nor would she be asking the man in question about anything, and had come to the conclusion that there was only one route she could now take.

She was going to have to talk to Lucius Malfoy.

* * *

><p>The meeting came to an end and Hermione was hoping to get away without having to talk to the Minister or Ezra, but was disappointed when it looked like she would be failing on both fronts, Kingsley heading towards her and Ezra waiting by the door.<p>

"Hermione." Greeted the Minister as he approached. "Is everything going smoothly?" He asked in a slightly hushed tone.

"Yes, we've been making excellent progress." She assured him with yet another forced smile, one she was sure that, unlike Ezra, he wouldn't notice.

"Good, good. So am I to assume that this means Mister Godtro is still performing well?"

"More than well, he's been outstanding." Hermione replied, still curious as to why the Minister thought he would be doing anything else.

"Well, that's very good news then, very good news indeed." He smiled. "Right, I've got to get going again, I have a phone call scheduled with the muggle Prime Minister in…" He paused as he checked his watch. "Oh Merlin, three minutes!"

"Thanks for all you hard work Hermione!" He called back as he swiftly exited the room, people parting for him as he left.

Hermione took her time collecting up her belongings, hoping that Ezra might have left by the time she was done, but no, when she looked up she was met with those bright grey eyes that she had become accustomed to seeing of late, his presence like that of her own shadow, she just wasn't sure whether she should be scared of it yet or not.

He didn't say anything as he followed her from the room, simply falling in stride beside her. The silence began to eat away at her but she knew what he was up to, he was trying to get her to tell him what was bothering her without it seeming as if he wanted to know, something which usually would have worked.

Hermione however, stood her ground, and pushed him into conversation.

"How was your appointment?" She asked.

"It went very well." Ezra replied smoothly, clearly deciding to give up his little game for now. "Far better than I was anticipating in fact."

"That's good." Said Hermione, not entirely sure what the appointment had been about, but glad to hear it had gone well. Her mind however, could not help but think that this 'appointment' could have perhaps been him getting up to whatever potentially strange things he got up to in his line of work.

Pushing the thought out of her head as they reached the atrium she turned to face him. "So, are we still on for talking with that archivist this weekend?"

"Don't you have some studying to do with Severus?" Asked Ezra.

"Normally I would but, believe it or not, Severus has actually taken this weekendoff. He gets one a term but usually doesn't take it, I expect Minerva threatened him with something awful like a holiday so that he would actually agree to it for once."

"I'm not surprised." Said Ezra with a laugh, Hermione not failing to notice yet again his apparent familiarity with people she didn't think he knew. "But yes, we should go and see the archivist as soon as we can, but I'm afraid it will have to be on Sunday as something has come up that I must attend to tomorrow." Ezra explained.

"Sounds great." Agreed Hermione. "See you on Sunday."

* * *

><p>Despite not sleeping very well, even Leku failing to cheer her up, Hermione arrived at the gates of Malfoy Manor early the next morning. She had decided to take Ezra's absence and not having to go to her lessons with Severus as an opportunity to investigate. She knew she really should have talked to the aurors first before coming here but she had decided that there really wasn't much point, they couldn't say no if she didn't ask after all.<p>

When Hermione thought of the Manor it was always dark, full of painful memories, felt as though the air was thick with poison, but as she saw it now she barely recognised it. The grounds were immaculate, the house in near perfect condition, and it was clear to see that the estate had been restored to its former glory once its unwanted house guests had been removed. Perhaps Lucius had needed something to occupy his now very free time.

Hermione wasn't entirely sure how to go about doing this, there wasn't exactly a protocol for getting into private estates uninvited as far as she knew, and was about to knock on the large black gates when she was startled by a loud crack. An old but not overly grumpy looking house elf had appeared, surprisingly wearing clothes and not appearing to have any bruises.

"Who goes there? And what is your purpose here?" He enquired as he looked her over, a hint of suspicion in his large eyes.

"My name is Hermione Granger, I work for the Department of Research at the Ministry, and I need to talk with Mister Malfoy." She informed him.

"It is not possible." He replied and Hermione's heart sunk. "Because Master is not here today."

Now that really took her by surprise.

"What do you mean, 'not here'?" She asked, utterly confused. "He's under house arrest isn't he?"

"Master has been given a trial release from his estate." The elf explained matter of factly. "Starting today."

"Oh…" Said Hermione, feeling a little bewildered. "I guess I should go then, thank you."

The elf bowed and then with another crack was gone.

Well, there went her plans of asking Malfoy about her suspicions. She could always come back again, or owl him perhaps, but she had been so anxious to find out if he knew anything today that she couldn't help but feel disappointed.

She was surprised to hear that Lucius had been released having only just fulfilled the minimum sentence for his house arrest, especially since she hadn't heard much about him since his trial. Perhaps keeping quiet and out of trouble was the reason for his early release.

Deciding she may as well enjoy what would probably be her only day off in a while, Hermione disapparated straight to Diagon Alley, a certain book store that she hadn't visited in far too long in mind. It was a sunny day and the streets where busy when she arrived, Flourish and Blotts however looked mercifully quiet though, most likely due to the sale that was on at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.

She was about to enter the shop, her hand a mere inch from the handle and certain bliss, when someone called her name. No, not someone, her ex-friend and lover, Ronald Weasley.

"Hermione." He called again, an edge to his voice Hermione wasn't so sure she liked the sound of, and she begrudgingly turned to face him.

"Ronald." She greeted coldly.

"How have you been lately?" He asked, most out of character. Since the break-up, which he had shown little remorse for causing, they had barely been on speaking terms, so it seemed odd that he would be approaching her now. Sure, they saw each other every now and again at reunions or events, but nothing much more than that.

"I heard you've been seen around a lot with some man." He added, and Hermione's blood began to boil, barely registering the light tinkling of a bell as the shop door opened behind her.

"And what does it matter to you if I've been seen around with 'some man', who by the way, is my current partner on an important job for the Minister." She informed him brusquely, beyond irritated at his petty jealousy which he had no right to feel.

"Oh, so you're just working with him." Said Ron with poorly disguised relief, almost seeming to lose interest in the conversation as soon as he found that out.

It was then that Hermione felt a familiar presence at her side, her heart starting to beat just a little bit faster, but as soon as the person spoke she realised that it was not who she thought it was.

"Dear me, Mister Weasley." He drawled. "Still jealous after all this time? How odiously dull." He said with thinly veiled disgust. "Although, I imagine most men would be jealous to see Miss Granger with another man, especially if they'd been a fool and lost her in the first place."

"This is none of your business Malfoy." Spat Ron. "And what the hell are you doing out of your estate?"

"Well, considering I'm out an about in Diagon Alley and not sneaking around in the darkness as I imagine you would expect, perhaps, if you used the few brain cells that you probably have, you would work out that I have been released from my house arrest." Said Lucius with an arrogance Hermione was sure only he could pull off. Well, maybe there was someone else she knew that could do that too…

Ron spluttered a bit, clearly unable to think of a response, and looked about to reach for his wand when Hermione stepped in.

"Ron, it's probably best that you go now." She said calmly, her words laced with an undertone that told him it was more an order than suggestion.

He frowned, the grip on his wand tightening visibly with his frustration, but he decided to be sensible, for once, and heeded her words, storming off down the busy street after trying, and failing, to give Lucius a menacing glare.

It took a minute for Hermione to come to her senses before finally realising who she was now alone with, his presence so similar to Ezra's that she felt far too relaxed.

"Thank you, Mister Malfoy." She said politely, finally turning to face him. Hermione didn't like him, perhaps in the past she had even hated him, but right now she appreciated his help.

"It was nothing, it has been a long time since I've had the misfortune of seeing a Weasley, not long enough however, so it really was my pleasure." He said with a slight smile.

Hermione couldn't help the single laugh that escaped her lips, agreeing with his somewhat unpleasant words. As she took in Lucius, she realised why her subconscious had mistaken him for Ezra. They were a very similar height and stature, both of them wore robes of a high quality, and, now that she had an up close look at his face, she noticed that they had the same striking grey eyes.

"Mister Malfoy, do you have time to talk?" She blurted out before she had time to think, suddenly remembering her earlier mission.

"Well, after five years of near solitude I suppose I do, yes." Lucius agreed far more politely than she would have expected. "Although, why you want to talk to me I'm sure I have absolutely no idea."

"Books." She said, panicking.

"Books?" He questioned, another smile appearing on his lips. "I thought that was a subject you were more than well informed on."

"Well yes, it is, I just-" Hermione flustered, unsure as to why she felt so uneasy around him, and not in the way she would have expected herself too. She felt nervous, but not because she was scared of him, or angry at him, or filled with the animosity she was sure she felt towards him, it was almost the type of nervousness you felt when…well, she didn't want to think about that.

"Shall we go into the shop then?" Suggested Lucius saving her from any further opportunities to embarrass herself. "If you want to talk about 'books'." He added with a raised eyebrow which told her that he was thoroughly unconvinced that that was really the case.

"Sure." Hermione agreed, trying hard to come back to her senses.

As Lucius led her through the shop to a quiet corner near the back, Hermione could not stop thinking. What in Merlin's name was happening? Why was Lucius Malfoy being friendly towards her, let alone civil? And why was she following him without any hesitation? Perhaps he had changed during his five years of relative isolation, or maybe he didn't want to risk upsetting one of the golden trio and get locked up again, although, that hadn't stopped him from putting Ron in his place. Sighing, she decided just to go with it for now, she needed to talk to him and now was a good a time as any and she supposed she should take advantage of it.

Asking Lucius Malfoy sensitive questions in a dark corner of a book shop, what could possibly go wrong?

* * *

><p><strong>Not sure how I feel about this chapter, but it needed to be written so here it is.<strong>

**At least a certain Malfoy has finally made an appearence...**


	5. The Storm Within Those Eyes

Two weeks.

Two weeks of proving to the Minister that he was ready to be released back into the wizarding world.

Working with the infamous muggleborn Hermione Granger his last test.

No longer being trapped in another's body and he felt alive again, his inhibitions so quickly melting away.

* * *

><p>Lucius led them to some shelves at the back of the shop, usually only frequented by avid customers, choosing to go down an isle that was only so wide that it would comfortably fit one.<p>

"So, Miss Granger." He said as he turned to face her. "What is it exactly that you wish to ask me about?"

Hermione was struggling to collect herself, Lucius was standing so close to her that she could smell the musky cologne her wore, could feel the heat emanating from his body, could count the fine silver threads on his robe, had a strange urge to reach out and run her fingers over them.

That's when something struck her.

She had seen silver threads like that not so long ago, at Hogwarts, worn by none other than Ezra himself.

Hermione's eyes snapped up to meet Lucius', staring into them, trying to see what she thought was there.

"Is everything all right, Hermione?" Lucius purred, his patrician face as calm and serene as ever, a small devilish smile on his lips and a salacious look in his eyes.

It was as if every clue Hermione had discovered about Ezra over the last few weeks suddenly slammed together in her mind, the dust settling and the perfect specimen of a man that was Lucius what was left in its wake.

Hermione did not know what came over her, it was as if all of the doubts she had about Ezra, her fears about him, had all suddenly dissipated, any restraints she had had on her feelings going with them.

She stepped into him, wrapped her hands tightly around his neck and pulled him down into a searing kiss. Her lips were hungry, as were his, responding to her almost instantaneously. Hermione could feel his fingers around her lower back, pulling her to him, revelling in the tight grip, the feel of the bookcase against her back.

She wanted him, well, had wanted Ezra, from the moment she had met him. Although she had never fully admitted it to herself, she would have been unable to deny it too.

Suddenly she could hear voices approaching and it snapped her back to reality. She pulled away from him, both of their breathing now heavy and thick with lust, and her eyes widened as she fully realised what she had just done.

Hermione took a shaky step away from him, her mind was suddenly racing, she had to get away.

A curious expression crossed Lucius' face as she quickly got out her wand.

She looked once more into those grey eyes that she was sure could see right into her soul, in no doubt now that she now understood everything.

"Sorry." She whispered as she disapparated away.

* * *

><p>Hermione appeared back in her bedroom with a pop and fell straight onto her bed with a sigh.<p>

What on earth had she just done?

Everything made sense now. Well, almost everything, her recent actions not so much.

Ezra Godtro was an alias, and for five years, had been a name without a body. The Minister must have known, Lucius must have known, that were he to give evidence on the other Death Eaters and if any of them or their families were to find out, then he would be in serious danger. So, she suspected that they made up the name to cover his tracks.

Lucius' lenient sentence now made sense too, it was probably because he'd helped the Ministry with putting away so many people that he got away with so little punishment. It would be easy to assume, like so many had, that he'd bribed someone or used a good lawyer to avoid going back to Azkaban, so she suspected that no one would ever have made the connection between him and Ezra.

She'd worked out why Ezra had suddenly become a real person too, someone with a job, a life of his own, even though it seemed a slightly risky thing to do. What better test to see if Lucius was fit to be out in the world again than to have him work with a muggleborn he most likely harboured hatred for?

She now understood the motive behind the Minister's strange questions about Ezra's behaviour, realised that Severus must have known about who Ezra really was all along too.

On the day Hermione had met Ezra, when he took her to The Ironbelly, that must have been the first day he had left his estate in five years. No wonder he had a table booked, seemed like he knew the place well, it was his favourite restaurant if what Severus said could be believed. She almost laughed when she realised the old customer who ordered in that special wine must have been Lucius, the dust she remembered being on it now making her strangely sad, but at least now she realised how Draco had known about the wine too.

Of course, Draco, Ezra had shown a special interest in him. It made her smile to think that Lucius still cared about him despite what Draco thought these days.

Yesterday, when Ezra had his appointment, it must have been to meet with the Minister to discuss his release, and no wonder he was out and about today instead of carrying on with their job. It would look awfully odd if he didn't go out on his first day of official freedom. She was sure one or two people would get suspicious if he didn't.

As to why his eyes looked the same, she had worked that out too. The polyjuice she made for the aurors, the one which lasted longer, which would explain why she had never seen Ezra drinking it, had one side effect. It didn't change the colour of your eyes.

It was easily remedied by a simple cosmetic spell, but Lucius hadn't changed it. She wondered why.

The body he was using was most likely a muggle, someone no one from the wizarding world would recognise. The height and stature being the same as his was explainable too. It was often helpful for long term polyjuice changes for the body to be similar to your own as the balance and spatial awareness when borrowing another's body could often be a little off. Then again, she wouldn't be all that surprised if Lucius just wanted a body he could still fit into all his clothes with.

Hermione had fallen for Ezra but something had felt wrong. As soon as she had worked it out, when everything became clear, she suddenly felt free to accept him. To do what she'd been wanting to do since they first met.

It was only when she remembered who she was actually kissing that the panic set in.

That was Lucius Malfoy. Pureblood supremacist, Death Eater, a man who hated her kind, had stood by and watched her be tortured in his home, and yet, at the time, she hadn't cared.

The Lucius she had gotten to know these past two weeks was not any of those things. He was a man she thought she could maybe, one day, love.

The look on his face when she left was etched in her memory, it held so many emotions that she couldn't identify, was scared to try.

What was she going to do now? What was _he_ going to do?

They would have to finish their work together, it would look most suspicious to everyone else if they didn't complete it. She knew Lucius would show up, he was a smart man and would understand what they had to do, but part of her didn't want it to be just because he was obligated. Hermione wanted him to be as driven to finishing it as she was, because he was hungry for the knowledge, the satisfaction of discovery, and maybe, because he wanted to spend time with her too.

After debating it for about half an hour, Hermione swung her legs over the side of the bed and made her way over to her writing desk. She penned a letter to Lucius, well, Ezra, confirming that they would still be meeting tomorrow with the archivist.

She quickly folded up the letter before she could change her mind and handed it to Leku who promptly flew off with it, after a quick stroke of his feathers of course. Hermione realised now why Lucius had given her the owl, it would do no good to have given her an address that could be linked back to him, far safer to simply have a bird that knew where to go.

With another sigh Hermione decided she would just have to wait until tomorrow to see what was going to happen, thankful she had so many books to distract herself with, sure she would have spent the whole afternoon thinking about Lucius if she did not.

* * *

><p>Lucius had continued his business in Diagon Alley for an hour or so before he became so distracted by thoughts of Hermione that he decided he had to go home, sure he'd been seen by more than enough people for word to get back to the right witches and wizards at the Ministry.<p>

He realised it would only be a matter of time before Hermione worked out who he was, but was surprised it had been so quick. He knew it had been a mistake to keep his eyes, he knew it was her damn potion he had been taking after all.

When he was Ezra, he felt like a different person, someone without prejudice, without a tainted past, without all of those mistakes, someone who his son could maybe be proud of, but he couldn't bring himself to change his eyes too. He wanted to see their reflection in the mirror, so that he could never forget that no matter how hard he may pretend, he was still Lucius Malfoy. The coward. The criminal. The monster. Those eyes would never forget, they had seen it all, and he would not insult all those he'd hurt by wiping them away.

Lucius had come to like Hermione, care for her, want her. It was as if being Ezra had made him into a different person, someone who could be with her, someone who could forget how he used to feel about her.

Part of him had been waiting for her to work it out, waiting to show her who he truly was, and the urge to tell her had almost been unbearable these last few days.

Another part dreaded that she would leave him once she knew.

When Hermione had kissed him today, he felt more alive than he had in so many years, so relieved that she seemed to have accepted him.

Then she had pulled away, the look in her eyes haunting him, and he was so scared about what she would do now. Would she abandon their project, abandon him? Confront the Minsiter perhaps? After all, he supposed anyone would want to know if they were working alongside a criminal, would hate to be deceived. Ah yes, he was more than a criminal to her, he was the epitome of everything she despised, someone who had caused her so much suffering.

Lucius sighed and hung his head in his hands. He had hoped that this wouldn't be over so soon, before it had even really started. Whatever this was…

It was then that Lucius heard the tap tap tap of an owl pecking on the window, his heart leaping when he saw it was Leku, dropping the very next second when he thought of all the possibilities that Hermione's letter could hold.

Lucius took the envelope from Leku and placed it gently in the centre of his large desk.

He sat in his chair and stared at it for a solid five minutes, eventually deciding that there was no point in postponing the inevitable. Taking his letter knife he slowly opened it, slipping the single sheet of parchment from inside. He read it quickly, it was short, and he was relieved to find out that Hermione at least still wanted to see him tomorrow, to continue their work, and he knew he would take the opportunity to try and explain things to her, if she would let him that is.

Lucius penned a quick reply, letting her know that he would be there, but stopped short when it came to signing his name.

Who was he to her now? Which of the men he could be was truly hers?

* * *

><p>Hermione was relieved to see Leku back so soon, holding a response.<p>

She let him in and he ruffled his feathers, handing her the letter, and she read it quickly.

_Dear Hermione,_

_Yes, we shall meet where we discussed tomorrow morning._

_I look forward to it,_

_Lucius_

* * *

><p><strong>This chapter is quite a bit shorter than the previous few, apologies, but this just felt like the right place to finish it off.<strong>

**Next one will be longer and I've already started work on it so should probably be up after the weekend (****I still don't have internet at home - it's still killing me - so I have to wait to post until I get to uni)**


	6. The Dangers of History

**Sorry for taking a while with this chapter, work just sort of took over everything for the last two weeks.**

* * *

><p>He would be Lucius.<p>

He knew that all of those thoughts, those words, those feelings, were truly his, Ezra a mere tool to allow him to express them.

Today would be a day for explanations, for truths, and not just the ones he needed to tell Hermione, but truths he had to admit to himself.

But the question had to be asked, who was Lucius Malfoy?

One thing he was not, was free.

Perhaps this was what drove him to supress and harm others, an excuse he could never accept. No, Lucius knew that he had been a coward.

It was strange, a paradox almost, that Lucius was so strong, so powerful, and yet so weak at the same time.

In Ezra, Lucius could be whoever he wanted to be. There was no expectation of him, no madman holding a knife to his family's throats, no fear which had driven him to prejudice.

In Ezra, Lucius was free.

* * *

><p>Before Hermione went to meet Lucius, there was someone else who she definitely needed to see. She had managed the previous afternoon to properly distract herself from thoughts of Lucius, but this had led to something crossing her mind that she hadn't thought of at first, and suffice to say that she was mad.<p>

So, that is what found Miss Hermione Granger marching towards the Ministers office, ignoring all protests that he was too busy to be disturbed, and after a curt knock opened his door.

"Hermione?" He said, surprised as he looked up from a stack of parchment in front of him. "What are you doing here? Is something wrong?"

"Oh, I don't know Kingsley." Hermione said as she closed his door perhaps a little too forcefully. "Do you think having someone working with a man who might kill her wrong?"

Understanding dawned on the Minister's face and his Adams apple bobbed as he swallowed. "Now, Hermione." He began in his politician's voice. "You have to understand why I did this, let me explain."

"You better explain." She said as she angrily took a seat. "Or I wouldn't be too surprised if Rita Skeeter found out why _Lucius Malfoy _got such a short sentence." She threatened.

He sighed and started to tell her why he'd done what he had.

"When the first few war trials began, although we had evidence of some crimes, there were so many we couldn't prove, so many criminals that we knew we wouldn't be able to put away for anyway near long enough. So, you can imagine why I would jump at the chance to resolve this when the opportunity presented itself. Lucius offered me a deal. He would give as much evidence as I wanted on whoever I wanted, his family excluded of course, and in return I would make sure that he didn't end up in Azkaban."

"Go on." Hermione said with a raised eyebrow.

"I was hesitant, I really was, but after reviewing his case files I realised that there were far worse people to have out and about than Lucius Malfoy, so I agreed to it. He was helpful, really helpful, he threw himself into the work as if his life depended on it, and in a way, I suppose it did." Kingsley told her sombrely. "You probably already realise this, but Azkaban destroyed Lucius. I didn't like him, but I could not deny that to see a man like him fall that far made me sad. I knew Hermione, I knew that he wouldn't hurt you, because I knew that he would never do anything that would that would put him back in there."

Hermione had never felt threatened by Ezra, not once, in fact, she felt safer than usual when she was with him, but that wasn't the point.

"I appreciate that you believe that to be true." She told him, trying to remain relatively calm. "But why couldn't you have just told me who he really was? I'm sure I could have done a better job observing and testing him if I knew."

"I worried that you wouldn't agree to it, given what happened to you at Malfoy Manor those few years ago…I'm sorry Hermione, I should have told you." He admitted, clearly genuinely apologetic.

"Well that's what I came here for." She said as she stood, satisfied that Kingsley was appropriately remorseful. "Now, if you'll excuse me, _Ezra _and I have an archivist to meet."

"You're still continuing with the project?" The Minister questioned with wide eyes.

"Of course." Hermione replied simply. "Have you ever known me to quit?" She said with a smile.

"Thank you Hermione." Said Kingsley, true appreciation in his voice.

"One last question." She added. "Who else knew? I mean, who knew that Ezra was Lucius?"

"Just myself, the judge and the chief of security, and they also knew about his current working with you and we agreed together to allow him release from his house arrest." Kingsley explained.

"I'm glad to hear that it's a small number of people." Said Hermione, somewhat relieved that there wasn't anyone else she needed to go and have a stern conversation with, another part of her relieved that the chances of Lucius' safety being compromised was small with so few people knowing of the role he played in the war trials.

"Goodbye Minister." She said as she opened the door. "Sorry to have bothered you." She added with false sweetness.

Hermione made her way through the atrium, preparing herself for what was to come, and was about to enter the floo when someone called after her.

"Miss Granger." Greeted Blaise as he approached her. "I'm glad I caught you before you left. We need some more of your polyjuice for security training and the chief asked me to personally make sure that you got the request."

"Oh yes, of course." She agreed distractedly, her mind focused on her upcoming meeting. "I have a large batch that should be done by the end of the week so I'll send it over once it's done."

"Thank you." He said with a curt nod before turning on his heels and marching off in the other direction.

Hermione had never known quite what to think about Blaise. In school he had been studious and relatively quiet, but he didn't hang around in the nicest crowds. Now he worked for the aurors and was a strong upholder of the law, as well as a hard and efficient worker, but Hermione couldn't help but feel uneasy around him sometimes, probably because she could never quite work out what he was thinking.

* * *

><p>Hermione arrived early to the Museum of Magical History, as was typical these days, and while she waited she couldn't help but think about how easy it had been for Lucius to play the part of Ezra, something she knew was hard to do from her time impersonating Bellatrix.<p>

Lucius had blended in with everyone in the Ministry so effortlessly, simply changing his appearance to hide who he truly was, just like a chameleon. Then again, chameleons were covered in bright colours that often stood out, not camouflaged at all, and in that sense she supposed you could still call Lucius one. His personality had seeped through his disguise, his presence still overwhelming no matter what he looked like.

She wondered if she could trust him, surely the fact that she knew what he'd done was cause for concern, one more person who could slip up. In a strange way, Hermione felt as though she could trust him. When you knew just how bad someone could be you no longer had to worry about hidden motives, because likelihood is that you knew them all already.

She believed what Kingsley said about Lucius not harming her though, it was obvious that he was unlikely to do something that would put him back in Azkaban, but part of her didn't want that to be entirely the reason. Surely he wouldn't hurt her even if he could get away with it, surely not now...

The doors to the museum opened and a familiar man entered, although, this man was not truly familiar to Hermione at all. There was Ezra, walking slowly yet purposefully towards her, and she could see that he was not the Erza she knew. No, the person she now saw before her, she was sure, was truly Lucius Malfoy. Now, the question had to be asked, although she knew his name, did Hermione know who this man was.

She had seen Ezra, she had seen the Lucius Malfoy the rest of the world had seen, but also the broken man he had become during the war, the one few had experienced, and she wondered whether the Lucius with her now was any of the men she thought she knew.

As he approached the nervousness she was sure she had been suppressing all morning finally hit her. She had thrown herself at this man yesterday, what must he think of her? Then again, he didn't exactly seem to be complaining, but perhaps he just reacted that way in the heat of the moment. Oh Merlin, she hadn't felt like this since going to the ball with Viktor all those years ago, and now it felt ten times worse.

"Good morning." Greeted Lucius formally and it stung Hermione more than she would have expected it to. "Hermione." He added, perhaps noticing her reaction. In future she noted that she would have to be careful to school her facial expressions when around him.

"Hello." She smiled. "Lucius." She added softly as she saw the archivist approaching.

Lucius looked slightly taken aback, his silver eyes widening in surprise, and Hermione had to supress a smile that she could make the infamously collected Malfoy patriarch lose his composure, if only for a mere second.

The archivist approached them and introduced herself and began to lead them through the museum. Hermione and Lucius walked contently behind her as she pointed out some of the more interesting and notable pieces they passed. Hermione had been here many times before, but never for work, so couldn't wait to see what so few of the public even realised was down beneath its floors.

Hermione and Lucius followed the archivist down into the museums vaults. As far as Hermione knew, under the museum there was a vast collection of artefacts of importance to the history of the wizarding world, many which would never be seen by more than a few. The place had very high security, some suggesting that it was even better than what they had at Gringotts.

It was then that Hermione realised what they were walking towards. Ahead of them was what looked to be a shimmering layer, sort of like a heat wave, and Hermione almost stopped in her tracks. It was just like the Theif's Downfall at Gringotts, a security measure to remove any concealments or enchantments.

How could she have overlooked this? Of course there would be something like this in the museum. What would happen if Lucius was exposed? The effects of the polyjuice were bound to be removed when he walked through it.

She looked to her left at Lucius but he appeared to be completely un-phased. Did he not realise what they were heading towards? Would he have even come if he knew the risk?

Hermione chastised herself, she knew Lucius was a smart man, she was sure he would have thought about this. Even if he knew about the barrier she was sure he would still have come. He could not afford to slip up in any way, and it would look suspicious if he was unwilling to go through the security at the museum.

Probably noticing the look of panic in her eyes, Lucius shifted closer to her.

"Do not worry Hermione." He whispered, his warm breath tickling her neck and sending a delicious shiver down her spine. "It will be fine." He said as he gestured to his pocket, the top of a flask poking out the top.

She understood immediately, he planned to retake the potion as soon as they were through the barrier. It was her potion, she knew it took no more than ten seconds to take effect, all they needed to make this work was hoping the archivist would keep walking and not turn around for long enough for the potions effect to work again. Fortunately, unless there was a hidden trap door in the floor, it looked as though the barrier held no fatal consequences like in Gringotts, so unless it had a warning signal attached they should be fine.

Hermione was counting the steps in her head as they approached, her heart rate picking up as they got closer.

Three. Two. One.

A warm sensation passed over her as they walked through, it felt as though she had just walked through water and yet she wasn't wet. She let out a breath once she was on the other side, nothing seemed to have happened.

And then the barrier turned red.

For the love of Cersei! Would these sorts of things ever stop happening to her?

The archivist was about to turn around when she noticed the change of colour, but Hermione quickly walked up to her and stopped her, hoping she could improvise and give the potion enough time to take effect, sure she had seen some platinum hair appearing out of the corner of her eye.

"Sorry." Hermione apologised. "I've got a couple of cosmetic spells on that might have set it off." She lied.

"The barrier normally doesn't pick those up." The archivist said, confused but not suspicious. Hermione wasn't one to use her war heroine status for personal gain, that just wasn't who she was, but sometimes, like today, she was grateful that it allowed people to trust her easily.

"They're ones I've altered myself so that might have caused it." She suggested. "I should have known not to apply them today when I knew we were coming here."

"Oh, don't worry Miss Granger, no harm done, it's easy enough to fix."

She turned to cast a spell on the barrier and Hermione held her breath, hoping Lucius looked like Ezra once more, relieved to see the dark haired man looking back at her slightly smugly, a glint of admiration is his eyes.

"There we go." The archivist said with a smile as she continued to lead them towards the vaults. "All fixed. We shouldn't have a problem going out, the barrier only works one way you see, so you can reapply your charms if you like, not that you need them Miss Granger, you really are beautiful."

"Thank you." Said Hermione, relieved that there wouldn't be a risk of Lucius being caught out on the way back.

"Yes, Miss Granger." Lucius said low and hot in Hermione's ear. "You really are."

Hermione could feel a burning blush spreading across her cheeks, a different kind of heat settling between her legs. She didn't know what it was exactly she felt for Lucius yet, it was all so confusing, but one thing was abundantly clear. She wanted him.

* * *

><p>They were at the museum in order to photograph the horcruxes for their book (those that weren't completely destroyed that is), and anything else that caught their attention while they were there.<p>

The archivist led them past rows of neatly labelled draws, cabinets and shelves, until eventually they came to a door marked '_The Second Wizarding War'._

"Here we are." She said as she cast some complex spells to unlock the door. "I'll have to supervise you while you're here, museum policy I'm afraid, but feel free to look at whatever you want, all items have been checked for curses and dangerous items are stored elsewhere so it's safe." She assured them. "I'll just be over in the corner doing some paperwork if you have any questions."

"Thank you." Smiled Hermione, slightly disappointed that she wouldn't be alone with Lucius so that they could talk. "Looks like we have a lot to go through."

The room was large, as was to be expected, but thanks to the way things were organised it was easy for them to find what they were looking for. Some of the horcruxes had been completely destroyed, like the diadem, but a surprising number had been recovered, mostly owing to their original historical importance prior to being horcruxes.

The ring, locket, cup, and diary were all present. Hermione felt uncomfortable seeing them again, especially the locket which had caused her and her friends so much pain. She could feel Lucius' presence behind her, could almost feel him stiffen when he saw the diary. She wondered what was going through his mind. Did he regret what he had done with the diary? Hermione wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer.

"Looks like we've got four." She said, trying to distract him from whatever he was thinking as well as herself.

"Five." He corrected her, pointing to a very large snake skull which she had overlooked.

"Oh yes…" She said weakly, the memories of being chased by Nagini ones which had haunted her for far too long.

"So." He said, interrupting her thoughts. Maybe he could tell when she needed to be drawn out of her thoughts too. "Whose camera are we using first?"

They had had quite a heated debate about how to take the pictures. Lucius (whom Hermione thought to be Ezra at the time) had initially suggested that they use a magical camera. Hermione, however, had disagreed. There wasn't going to be any movement in the pictures, so why use a magical camera when she had a very good muggle one which would produce photographs of much higher quality. Lucius had grumbled somewhat, and now Hermione knew why, but suggested they each bring their own, take pictures with each, and decide once they saw the results.

It came as a surprise to Hermione then, when Lucius pulled from his robes and enlarged what looked to be an old muggle film camera.

"An heirloom." He explained as he started to assemble it.

"A compromise?" Hermione asked quietly with a small mischievous smile.

"Perhaps." He conceded with a smile of his own. "I used to use it when I was at school."

"Not a magical camera?" She teased.

"No." He explained as he set up the equipment. "You're right, it loses the quality so there isn't any point for it with still objects." He paused. "And it is better, I find, sometimes, to look at a photograph and imagine what's happening for yourself, to see all the emotions in someone's face from a single picture, without any preconceived notion the movement the magic creates might give you."

"Yes." Hermione agreed, taken aback by his statement, not sure what to say. "I've learnt recently that preconceived notions can be wrong."

Lucius' hands stilled only slightly in his work at her words, the only sign that they had had any effect on him, but it was enough, and Hermione knew that it meant something to him.

They worked mostly in silence after that, they knew the time for talking would be later, when they were alone. Their task was finished fairly quickly but since they were here they decided they may as well look around for some other items that they might want to photograph, not to mention that Hermione would have come up with any excuse to stay for longer to get a good look around.

She found all sorts of interesting things. Diaries from people on the run from snatchers, an old death eater mask that she put away as soon as she saw it, hoping that Lucius didn't find it, and even some wanted posters of Harry that she photographed for the book.

All was going well and Hermione was enjoying herself, that is, until she opened a drawer she should really have checked the label of before doing so.

Inside were several wands, one of them causing her to freeze.

Hermione had handed in that wand to the Ministry to help with evidence for the trials, was so sure she would never see it again that it caught her off guard. Bellatrix' wand, the wand that tortured her, the wand she wish she'd snapped.

Lucius seemed to notice her distress, always so perceptive, and began to walk towards her.

If she had noticed one of the other wands in the drawer, if only she had known what it would do to him, she would have told him to stay away.

"Hermione, what have you found? Is everything al-" He paused, the words stuck in his throat.

His hands started to shake, his breathing picked up and his so often calm eyes were filled with fear. Hermione worried that he had been cursed perhaps but remembering the archivist's words she followed his eyes and saw what was causing his reaction.

A white wand with a handle of bone.

Hermione slammed the drawer shut but it seemed to be too late, Lucius was reaching for his throat, trying to loosen his tie as he stumbled backwards.

"Lucius." She called out to him, forgetting the archivist might hear, trying to help him, to calm him down, but he was too far gone, Hermione only just catching him in time with a levitation spell before he passed out cold on the floor.

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry again for another rather abrupt ending to a chapter, but this was just where it seemed right to end it.<strong>

**And just to clarify, Lucius isn't dead.**


	7. Sleep May Take You, But Not Death

**Here's the next chapter. Apologies if any of it reads a little disjointedly – I struggled quite a bit with the flow for some reason.**

**I'm off to Africa for two and a half weeks so won't be posting the next chapter for a while, apologies. Might be able to write it while I'm there though so we'll see.**

* * *

><p>Hermione reacted quickly. The war had made her like that. Calm, logical, efficient. It was what she had needed to stay alive and it had stuck.<p>

Her first thought was panic attack, it would make sense considering Lucius had just seen something that had no doubt caused him unimaginable pain over the years, and yet, it didn't quite add up.

Lucius was stronger now.

At least Hermione thought he was…

His body continued to twitch and shake, it wasn't what she would expect, and her hunch was one she hoped was wrong.

Lucius had been cursed.

She didn't know how, or perhaps not even when, but she needed to resolve it as soon as possible.

The archivist had run over to them in the few seconds Hermione had come to her conclusion.

"Can we apparate from within here?" Hermione asked seriously. They had no time to waste getting him some medical attention. The question was where to take him.

"I can dispel the restrictions temporarily." She confirmed. "You take him to St Mungos and I'll follow in a minute once I've secured the vaults."

"Okay." Hermione nodded. "I need to take this." She added, reaching for Voldemort's wand. "We need to work out if this is what caused it."

The archivist flinched as Hermione picked it up, but nothing happened, just as Hermione suspected. If the wand truly was cursed, it was most likely only focused on certain people. Perhaps those whose loyalties had changed, those who had betrayed their master.

"You can take it, but be careful." She agreed as Hermione went over to carefully take Lucius' limp body in her arms.

"I will."

And with that she was gone.

Hermione appeared at the doors of St Mungos with a barely audible pop and within seconds there were medi-witches and wizards levitating Lucius away.

"What has happened to him?" The head medi-witch asked.

"I'm not sure, a curse perhaps." Hermione explained curtly. "I need to get someone who might know, I'll be back shortly."

* * *

><p>Severus Snape was halfway through brewing a complex potion with a few of his favourite seventh year pupils, as one does on their weekend off, when he was disturbed by someone apparting straight into his classroom, Voldemort's wand in hand, and a look in her eyes that would have scared a lesser man.<p>

"I need your help." Hermione said, the urgency evident in her eyes.

"Class dismissed." He ordered the shocked group of students without hesitation or question. "Finish the potion safely and make sure you lock up the labs." He added as he was marching towards the door with Hermione.

"What is it? What's happened to Lucius?" Snape asked as soon as they were out of earshot, Hermione unsure how he knew Lucius was involved.

"Cursed I think." She explained hastily. "And it might have something to do with-"

Hermione recoiled suddenly. How could she have been so stupid?

Surely if the curse had something to do with people who had betrayed Voldemort, then Severus would be at risk too. She shouldn't have come here.

Then again, he was standing right next to the wand, he had seen it, and nothing had happened. But surely something had cursed Lucius. Hermione couldn't believe that he had simply passed out.

"We need to go to St Mungos. I thought this wand might be the cause but now I'm not sure. You need to see him Severus, you're the only one who can help him." She pleaded.

"Yes." He said seriously, taking her arm, and they quickly disapparated away, Hermione never so thankful that they both had the clearance to do so within the castle walls.

* * *

><p>Hermione had been gone five minutes at most but when she and Severus ran into the ward Lucius was in there was already a big team of people working on him.<p>

Severus marched through them, everyone moving aside for him, none questioning his presence.

Severus Snape was not a man to be reckoned with when he was on a mission.

He immediately started performing diagnostic spells on Lucius, completely un-phased that he still looked like Ezra.

"What do you know?" He asked to anyone who could hear as he continued to work.

"It looks like a curse with a delayed response." Explained the archivist who appeared from between two nurses. "We can't work out the effects, but it looks to me like it was cast incorrectly."

"Yes." Snape muttered. "We're lucky whoever did this got it wrong…I need boom berries. Now!" He ordered as he took various other medicines from inside his robe. "Hermione, I need you to cast all of the counter curses you know, one of them should help us."

Hermione leapt straight into action, never happier that Severus had insisted they cover antidotes and counter curses these last few weeks.

They worked quickly. The nurses helping to keep Lucius as stable as possible, the archivist scanning several rare books on curses she had brought from the museum vaults for anything that might help, Severus concocting a potion which should negate the effects and Hermione casting every spell she knew.

"I've found something!" The archivist almost shouted as she sprung up from her seat. "It might be a spell called the Izanami Curse. It causes any weaknesses in the body or mind to be magnified, sometimes resulting in death if the victim has something wrong with them, like a weak heart. It's often called the 'invitation to death' as it doesn't quite kill directly." She explained quickly.

"Is there a counter curse?" Hermione asked, trying to hide any desperation from her voice.

"Yes, the Izan_agi_ spell." She said as she handed Hermione the old book. "The incantation is here but it's in runes so you'll have to decipher it."

"I can do it." Hermione said confidently, grateful that she was an expert in runes.

She worked as fast as she could, very aware of the fact that Lucius' condition seemed to be getting worse, and had the spell ready within minutes.

"Merlin I hope this works." She whispered to herself, surprised when Severus lightly took her hand in his own.

"I have faith in you." He encouraged her quietly.

Hermione took a deep breath and said the words, the room falling silent.

Lucius stilled almost immediately, his chest only moving so slightly that Hermione wasn't sure whether or not she was just imagining it.

Severus was immediately back to casting diagnostic spells, visibly relaxing once he was done.

"He appears to be stabilising." He announced. "Although I anticipate that he'll be out cold for quite a few hours and very weak for at least a day or two.

"Don't worry." Assured one of the medi-witches. "We'll be able to take good care of him from here. Thank you all for your help."

"Yes." Agreed Hermione. "Thank you, both of you." She said to Severus and the archivist, whose name she really must find out at some point.

"You're welcome." She smiled. "I just hate to think that something at the museum might have done this. We're always so careful…"

"You needn't worry." Interjected Snape. "You were right, it had a delayed response, most likely because it is a spell intended to kill and make it look natural, the killer wanting to distance themselves from the crime. It is likely it was cast on him sometime earlier today."

"That's a relief." She said with a sigh. "Although I think I'm going to thoroughly re-check a couple of things when I get back anyway. Speaking of, I should probably go back now. We've got some new items coming in this afternoon from Gringotts, owner left a lot to the museum in her will, and those goblins don't like to be kept waiting."

"Of course." Said Hermione. "Thank you for all of your help today, I don't know how we'll ever repay you."

"Oh don't worry about it, it sure beat doing all the paperwork I was going to do today. Anyway, I'm off." She said as she collected the books and the wand. "Alright if I take these back? We're not really supposed to allow them to leave the premises but as long as I get them back soon no one will notice, especially since I'm the one in charge for inventory in those rooms."

"Sure, thanks for letting us take them." Said Hermione.

"I hate to think what might have happened if we had not had them here…" Mumbled Snape behind her.

The archivist bid her farewell and most of the nurses left, only the head medi-witch left behind.

"So, who exactly is this man?" She asked. "We need it for the records."

"Ezra Godtro." Hermione informed her, knowing she could not reveal Lucius' true identity.

"And how are you connected with him?"

"Oh, he's my partner." She explained, not realising the double meaning of her words before it was too late.

"I see." Said the medi-witch, her eyebrows rising slightly in surprise, Hermione sure she heard Severus let out a nearly silent snicker at her side. "Well, you'll be able to stay later if you like, family only after five."

Hermione decided it was best not to correct the witch that they were only work partners as there was something she knew she needed to stay here and do, preferably alone, despite the rumours that no doubt would be spread about her and Ezra all over the Ministry tomorrow.

Ever since they got here Hermione had been worried that Lucius' polyjuice would wear off, his real identity revealed. She rationalised with herself, she knew the brew could last up to twelve hours and that he had taken it no more than half an hour before the incident, but it was the night that concerned her. He would need to take it as late that evening as she could stay for in order for the effects to last until the morning, and that meant she had to be with him to, well, force it down his throat.

The medi-witch left soon after and Hermione was at last left alone with Severus and Lucius. They had some important things that they needed to discuss.

"So this curse…" Started Hermione. "It's worrying."

"Indeed." Agreed Severus. "Of course, there are many possibilities."

"Yes. Does someone know that it's really Lucius? And what's their motive for cursing him if they do? Or perhaps they know about Ezra helping in all the trials, his name is known in the Ministry after all, and this is the first time they've had a body to put a name to, to hurt." Hermione listed off in one breath.

"We can't be sure" Said Severus, clearly troubled by the matter. "But whatever the case, I'm fairly sure your polyjuice saved his life."

"Really? How?"

"Well, this curse, it affects the weak parts of a person, but in this case, the outside and inside of Lucius when he is like this are different, the body and mind separate, so I suspect that it caused the spell to malfunction."

"I see…So have you heard of this curse before?" Hermione asked, trying not to think about what might have happened to Lucius if he hadn't been Ezra at the time of the casting.

"Yes, but only in theory. It's not commonly used due to the fact that death isn't guaranteed, nor is pain. Few of the death eaters ever used it, and if they did, it was rare. The fact that it was used on Lucius, even though he appeared to be Ezra, a man who by all appearances is in excellent health, shows that the caster was inexperienced." Severus explained. "It is likely their knowledge of the curse was gathered solely from books, a limited number of books, and their understanding of it was nowhere near complete."

"I'm glad that they didn't do their research properly, something I never thought I'd say, but it doesn't help us work out who it might be." Pondered Hermione. "But I suppose we can narrow down the list to people who might have a grudge against Ezra or Lucius."

"Unfortunately, the list for the latter is probably still very long." Said Severus dispiritedly. "Although, it is possible that they were targeting Ezra, not Lucius, as I think even someone inexperienced with the spell would be wary about using it if they knew their target was under the effects of polyjuice." He pondered. "But, for now, he should be safe. I doubt word of his hospitalisation will spread too fast, no one here knew who Ezra was after all, so that should give him some time."

"True, but his absence from work tomorrow may not go unnoticed by whoever is the perpetrator."

"Well, we have the polyjuice to fix that. I'm sure we could find someone to impersonate him tomorrow and have them spread it about that Ezra will be leaving the country for a while on urgent business." Suggested Severus. "And" He added as he sensed Hermione was about to protest. "We will tell them about the possible danger and offer them appropriate protection.

"Yes." Hermione grumbled. "Good idea. If whoever did this thinks that Ezra, or Lucius, is still alive but away, they are unlikely to get in the way for a while."

"Indeed." Agreed Severus. "And I doubt they will do anything tomorrow. From this attack I doubt they have the ability to come up with a plan on the spot, especially if we stay in crowded places, and if they use the same curse as today we will be able to rectify it immediately with the counter curse."

"Then we're agreed, we'll find someone to play the part, the question is who…?" Wondered Hermione.

"I have an idea." Said Severus. "I'll get on it as soon as I leave. Speaking of polyjuice, I'm assuming you have some with you?"

"Yes." Confirmed Hermione. "He has a flask that seems to be almost full in his coat pocket. I'll put some in a vial for you to give to whoever you're going to ask."

With that, Severus left to get on with his business, Hermione not noticing the small smile that graced his lips as he walked from the room.

* * *

><p>Hermione sat at Lucius bedside for the rest of the afternoon, her hand clasped lightly in his, not that she remembered putting it there.<p>

It hadn't been until he looked about to die right before her eyes that Hermione realised just how much she cared about Lucius.

Perhaps she should be afraid to feel what she did, to try to supress it, but instead she had accepted it, she had accepted him.

There was no doubt in her mind that Luicus had once hated her, that he had probably killed many like her, that he had perhaps even enjoyed doing so, and she in turn hated him for that, but she knew, Hermione knew that this man was the only one for her.

She did not fully understand him yet, not even partially in truth, and it was possible she never would, but that didn't matter to her. What she did understand she adored.

Lucius was capable of so much love, she had seen it so clearly during the battle of Hogwarts, had been captivated by him even then. He was intelligent, strategically minded, inquisitive and committed. His presence was all consuming, when he entered a room it was hard for you to notice anyone else, just like that first day when she met Ezra, she was captivated by him.

Hermione knew that, whatever may happen in the future, she would value this short time they had spent together, knew she would never forget it.

As the afternoon turned to evening and darkness fell, Hermione thought back to what had happened at the museum. The curse was supposed to affect the weakness of mind as well as the body, so was it seeing Voldemort's wand that had triggered the spell to activate? Whatever feelings Lucius associated with it cracking his seemingly constant composure and allowing the curse its opportunity to strike.

She was jostled from her thoughts when Lucius groaned, his hand tightening in her own as he seemed to twitch.

Her breath hitched when suddenly she thought that the curse had returned but she quickly realised that he was still asleep.

A nightmare.

Hermione had nightmares from the war that caused her to wake up screaming, she knew how terrifying they could be, but had no doubt that Lucius' mind had a far greater bank of terrible memories to choose from to torment him with while he slept.

His groans became louder and more intense, he almost seemed to be in physical pain, and Hermione knew she had to do something. It hurt her to see him suffer like this.

She gently sat down on the bed and put her hands softly on either side of his face.

"Lucius." She called gently. "Lucius, you need to wake up."

His eyes snapped open and he looked ready to attack, his warriors instinct kicking in.

"It's me Lucius, it's Hermione." She whispered calmly, despite her heart beating fast in her chest. "It was just a nightmare, it isn't real, it can't hurt you, your safe Lucius."

Lucius blinked a few times, visibly relaxing, his eyes scanning the room and coming to settle on her face.

"What happened to me?" He asked quietly, and edge of vulnerability to his voice that Hermione had never heard before.

"You were cursed, but you're alright now, I will tell you about it in the morning, you need to rest now." She told him as she could see his blinks getting slower, sleep beckoning him again.

She moved to get up but his hand around her wrist stopped her.

"Stay with me Hermione." He said, forcing his eyes to stay open. "Please don't leave me." He whispered so quietly she barely heard.

"I'll stay."

Lucius smiled, a weak, tired smile, and as Hermione settled down on the bed beside him, his eyes once again fell shut.

* * *

><p>Hermione lay awake beside him not really thinking of anything for once, simply enjoying their proximity, the calm she felt.<p>

It was not until she felt a lock of hair fall onto her shoulder that she moved, turning to face the now beautiful man at her side.

Lucius truly was beautiful, hauntingly so, and to be able to observe his face so closely seemed to be a privelidge.

The sharp angles of his jaw and cheekbones, his straight nose, the lips that she knew could turn into the most enticing devilish smile, and his eyes, oh how she wished she could see those eyes, the silver ocean, grey clouds, which swam within their depths.

She lay next to him for as long as she dared, memorising his face, all it's lines, all of its scars, until her own eyes started to flutter, sleep coming for her too.

With a sigh, Hermione pushed herself up from the bed, careful to not wake Lucius who had been sleeping like a stone since his nightmare, and got the polyjuice ready. It was almost eleven, there would be no risk of him waking up as Lucius if he took the potion now.

She gently opened his mouth and poured in the potion, tilting his chin to get him to swallow. Hiding the flask, she settled back down beside him, not wanting to leave in case he had another nightmare.

Hermione let sleep take her before Lucius changed back into Ezra, wanting his face, his true face, to be the last thing she saw that day.

The face of the man she had no doubt she had fallen in love with.

* * *

><p><strong>I realise it may be moving a little fast for some of you, but, again, it just felt right to me.<strong>

**I decided not to give the archivist a name (or to describe her appearance). I'm not the biggest fan of OCs and I thought that giving her a name might make her a little too close to one for my liking. It may be bit odd but that's how it is – Ezra was almost a step too far for me and he IS Lucius.**

**Izanami is a Japanese goddess of death (and creation), her name meaning 'she who invites'. Izanagi was her husband who went to search for her in the land of death when she died. Their story gets really dark after that, suffice to say that she is VERY dead when he gets there and she swears revenge, but I used it as inspiration for the naming of the curse and counter-curse anyway. **


	8. Plan

**I'm back! Sorry about the long wait, I really didn't manage to write a single word while I was away so it's taken a bit longer than I had anticipated to get this out. On the plus side, I managed to see several chameleons in Africa which I thought was very apt.**

**Anyway, enough of my rambling, enjoy!**

* * *

><p>Hermione awoke early the next morning, 4am perhaps, when a nurse came to check on Lucius' condition.<p>

She sleepily rolled off the bed to let him be examined, not caring at all that the nurse had seen her in Ezra's bed, it wasn't as if anyone knew who he was anyway.

"He seems to be fine." The medi-witch told her. "I wouldn't be surprised if he could be discharged this afternoon."

"That's great." Said Hermione with a yawn as she made her way back to the bed, too tired to think of any other questions she should probably be asking. "Thank you."

The nurse looked surprised as Hermione pulled the blanket back around herself but composed herself quickly, Hermione supposing it was natural that people might be a bit shocked to suddenly find out she was climbing into bed with a man no one knew twice her age.

"Let me know if you need anything." The nurse offered, turning to leave the room fairly quickly, Hermione happy to be alone with Lucius once again.

As she lay down next to him, Lucius rolled on his side and slung an arm over her.

Hermione froze, but relaxed when she realised he was still asleep. Lucius pulled her close, her back now tightly pressed against his hard chest. He tucked his head into her shoulder and Hermione could feel him smile against her neck.

"Hermione." He half whispered, half moaned as his grip on her tightened, his hand snaking down her body to where he seemed to know she needed him.

Hermione almost whimpered when his hand ghosted over the small amount of skin exposed between her top and jeans. His fingers attempted to open the button at the top of her trousers but in his not so conscious state he failed and let out a small growl of frustration.

Hermione wanted to help him, to let him touch and explore her, but she could hear footsteps in the corridor outside and realised that this was not the place or time for it, no matter how much she wished it was. Besides, she wanted the first time he touched her to be with his own hands.

Reluctantly she brought Lucius' hand back to her waist and held it there, Lucius seeming content to entwine his fingers with hers and nuzzle further into the crook of her neck instead.

She hoped that the next time this happened he'd be far more awake.

* * *

><p>They both woke at seven when Severus came back to visit, this time Hermione mildly embarrassed to be seen in the arms of her Professors best friend.<p>

Lucius, on the other hand, seemed to be revelling in it.

"Sleep well?" Asked Severus dryly.

"Mmm." Lucius hummed as he rubbed his thumb across Hermione's waist. "I had the most pleasant dream.

"I'm sure." Said Severus with a roll of his eyes.

"So." Interjected Hermione, trying to move the conversation to more comfortable territory as she slowly removed herself from Lucius grip. "Have you found someone to play Ezra for the day?" She asked, pretending not to hear Lucius' small grumble of protest as she left his side.

"I have." Said Snape, clearly pleased that he no longer had to listen to his friends insinuations. "He is trustworthy, smart and, in my opinion, the only person who could pull off Ezra's demeanour."

"I doubt that's possible." Added Lucius, Severus simply ignoring him.

"Well then, who is it?" Hermione asked excitedly, faintly registering the doors opening at the other end of the room.

"Really Granger, I'm surprised you'd have to ask." Came a voice that for many years had made Hermione flinch.

"Draco." Hermione said with a smile, automatically standing to embrace him in a tight hug as was there usual way of greeting.

"Hello Hermione." He replied, his smile not quite as wide as her own, his eyes straying to look slightly suspiciously at his father. "I'm surprised to see you here."

"Well I wasn't about to leave Lu-your father, unprotected after what happened to him was I?" She explained, convincing herself that it wasn't a complete lie, realising that Draco might not be too happy to discover her feelings for Lucius.

"Thank you then, I'm glad to see that he seems to be recovering." He said, his voice turning a little fonder.

"Draco." Called Lucius, beckoning his son to his side. "Are you really going to help me? I wouldn't want to put you in danger again. I promised myself, and you, that I would never-"

"Father." Interrupted Draco sternly, but not harshly. "I wouldn't be here if I didn't want to help you." He explained. "I am a Malfoy, and Malfoy's stick together."

Lucius face softened and the love he bore for his son shone through clearly, a small but powerful smile appearing on his lips. "Thank you, Draco. Severus was right, you truly are the only person who I could ever trust to do this, but, do you understand the danger?"

"It may surprise you to know that I worked out who Ezra was a long time ago, ever since your sentence was so short. Suffice to say that having Pansy Parkinson sneak me into the records room helped too." Draco admitted smugly.

"So you knew?" Lucius asked with pride. "All this time…I should have told you."

"No. It is better that you did not." Cut in Draco. "At the time I would have taken it badly. I would have seen it as you trying to win back my favour, once again pandering to those in power, for I was blinded by my resentment of you." He explained, clearly trying hard to keep any anger he still had on the subject at bay. "We'd almost lost everything because of you, my mother had left because of you, and it wasn't for a long time that I understood your actions, and sometimes I wonder if I even do….But I am happy to know the truth now, and grateful that my father isn't rotting away in Azkaban."

"I see." Nodded Lucius with regret, clearly ashamed.

"But enough of that." Said Draco, taking control of the situation in a way just like his father would. "We need to come up with a plan."

* * *

><p>Unsurprisingly, it didn't take the four of them long to work out what they needed to do.<p>

They figured that it would be unlikely that any of the nurses who had attended to Lucius would see him at the Ministry, or that word of Ezra's hospitalisation would have gone far, so it shouldn't strike anyone but the cursers suspicion if he was seen out and about.

Draco would take half of the polyjuice with him and transform once they were away from the hospital, leaving Lucius to finish his recovery as Ezra and be sent home hopefully that afternoon.

Severus was to go to the Manor to check and fortify the protections there on the unlikely grounds that someone had worked out Ezra's true identity, as well as alert the ever faithful elves to keep an eye out for anything suspicious.

So, an hour later, Hermione found herself walking through the Ministry atrium with Ezra at her side as usual, everyone around them none the wiser to what had happened.

At least she hoped so.

Draco played Ezra well. Severus was right, she really couldn't imagine anyone else doing it with such ease, but she could tell it wasn't the same, knew she would have noticed had she not been privy to the switch.

Whatever it was that had drawn Hermione to Ezra in the first place wasn't quite there, the confidence and power he seemed to exude, the effortless superiority, and it solidified what Hermione already knew, that it was most definitely Lucius she had fallen for.

Despite their differences, Hermione was sure that no one noticed that anything about Ezra had changed. It was almost as if Draco knew exactly how to behave around everyone, even the subtleties in his actions were on point, and she couldn't help but wonder if perhaps Draco had observed his father in this form from afar.

Regardless, they got to her office without incident and began to execute phase two of their plan. Phase one was complete, to let a lot of people see that Ezra was out and about and as far as anyone was aware, one hundred percent healthy and un-cursed.

Phase two was to spread the word that Ezra would be away for quite some time due to a relative being very sick. Although the curser might see through the lie it didn't really matter for they would be unlikely to find out where they were hiding him, especially if they didn't know that Ezra was Lucius.

Draco was to go to the Minister and explain that he needed to leave for some time. They trusted that Shacklebolt wasn't involved in the attempt on Lucius' life but one could still never be sure who might be listening, so they decided not to tell him what had happened for now.

Hermione's job was going to be a little easier. All she had to do was wander around the Ministry complaining to all the biggest gossips she knew how annoying it was that Ezra was leaving her with all this work to do, hoping that no one would notice how out of character it would be for her to complain about having lots of work to do. If anything, normally, she'd probably be happy about it.

Hermione would probably have to spend quite a lot of time out of the Ministry herself now as well if she wanted to continue working with Lucius, which she couldn't deny she did, but it was likely to go unnoticed considering how little time she spent at the Ministry these days anyway.

It was as she was heading to her final destination, the mail room, where there were always a few of the newer employees loitering about, always good for spreading news around, that she overheard something that she found curious.

"You'll never believe who snapped at me this morning?" Said a wizard Hermione guessed was in his early twenties.

"Who?" Asked the witch who was searching through a pile of letters next to him. "I'm intrigued."

"Zabini, that's who." The wizard informed her, clearly shocked. "I mean Blaise Zabini never snaps, he just stands up taller and gives you one of those looks that makes you wish you were talking to an angry dragon instead. It was most out of character."

"Hm, well I suppose he's probably just a bit stressed lately." Offered the witch disinterestedly. "There's that big anniversary event coming up and you know he's doing all the work our boss should be doing, give the guy a break."

"I suppose…" Mumbled the wizard.

"And besides, I'm sure you did something that was worthy of being snapped at." She teased.

At this point Hermione was deep in thought and the rest of their conversation blended into the background.

Now why was Zabini so tense today Hermione wondered? The wizard was right, it was out of character for Blaise. In all her years of knowing him he'd barely flared a nostril when he was angry. Something must really have him out of sorts.

Maybe….

"Miss Granger." Came Ezras's voice. "There you are."

"Oh, Dra-Ezra, how did your meeting with the Minister go?" She asked as they began to make their way towards the atrium.

"As well as can be expected." Draco explained. "Shacklebolt protested, but after I informed him that we were almost done with the project." At this point he leaned in close and whispered. "Which I'm assuming it is knowing you and father."

"Naturally." Hermione replied with a smug smile.

"And that yet another member of our ever dwindling family was dying of Dragonpox, just like our poor Abraxas, so I suppose he couldn't really demand that I stay."

"Good, well done." She said, her mind half elsewhere, the conversation she had overheard playing in her head again.

"Is something wrong?" Draco asked her quietly as they approached the floo.

"I'm not sure yet, maybe, I'll explain when we're back with the others."

Draco approached the floo first and called out for the Iron Belly, Hermione to Hogwarts.

The plan was to meet with Lucius and Severus down in his quarters in the Slytherin Dungeons, but they didn't both want to floo there straight away so as not to create any suspicion.

Hermione was now in her own room up in Gryffindor tower and began to make her way to the dungeons a little slower than she might have any other day.

Zabini…

_If_ he was the one who cursed Ezra, it would make sense that he was so on edge after having heard that he was alive and well, but something didn't add up to Hermione.

Blaise had always been smart, and like Severus had said, whoever had placed the curse on Lucius was most likely not. Secondly, it was still out of Zabini's nature to get flustered, even if a serious plan like this had failed, so his behaviour alone was something to be worried about. Then there was the question of motive, as far as Hermione knew he didn't have any relatives in prison and, if anything, she was sure any evidence Ezra had given regarding his mother had helped to keep her as unscathed as was possible.

She had however seen Zabini that morning on the way to the museum, but he'd been acting completely normally as far as she remembered, simply asking her about the next polyjuice shipment.

The polyjuice…Blaise knew all about it, and her new research on it, was it possible that perhaps he knew that Ezra was a disguise for someone?

Hermione wondered whether she should tell the rest of them. He was Draco's friend, she wouldn't want to create any sort of rift between them unnecessarily…but then again, what if she said nothing and Draco was in danger.

She let out a growl of frustration as she began stomping rather childishly down the stairs, grumpy with the fact that these sorts of things never seemed to stop happening to her.

With a sigh, she decided the best course of action would be to ask Lucius who he had encountered that morning, and where he went, to see whether or not Zabini was mentioned. If he wasn't, she might just do some investigating of her own for now.

At last she reached the door to Severus' quarters and knocked on it three times. Despite no longer being a school girl, the practice still filled her with a small amount of dread.

Thankfully, Draco, now back in his own body, was the one to open the door, so Hermione didn't have to experience any nasty cases of dejavu.

"Ah, Hermione, finally made it I see." Greeted Severus.

"Mmm yes." Purred Lucius with a salacious smile on his lips. "At last."

Hermione shot her Professor a questioning look due to Lucius' somewhat strange behaviour.

"The hospital released him early on the condition that he take a calming potion." Explained Severus. "It is intended to keep the body and mind relaxed so that any residue left from the curse doesn't have an effect, but it seems to have relaxed whatever filters on his speech and actions that he may have had as well."

"I see." Said Hermione as she took a seat just a little out of Lucius' reach. It wasn't that she didn't like the way that he was looking at her, hell, she loved it, but she didn't think she could stand the embarrassment if he were to do something in front of her mentor or best friend.

"Draco tells us that your trip to the Ministry was successful." Said Lucius as he looked at her like a hungry predator.

"Yes." Confirmed Hermione, unable to quite meet his heated gaze. "I think the word should spread that Ezra will we away for an indeterminate period of time."

"Good." Said Severus.

"Indeed." Added Lucius as his gaze dropped unabashedly down her body. "However shall I thank you…"

"Um, Hermione, you said something was bothering you earlier, in the atrium." Draco cut in, clearly uncomfortable with his father's behaviour, Hermione hoping that he thought it was all just a side effect of the potion.

"Oh, yes, I was just thinking about where Lucius went the morning before our visit to the museum, and whether or not he noticed or recognised anyone." She explained, covering her lie with a truth and hoping Severus wouldn't notice.

"Good question." Said Draco, happy with the change of subject. "We need to know as much as we can so we can try and start to work out what happened here."

"I agree." Interjected Severus. "But I'm not sure Lucius is quite in the state to be properly answering questions."

"I assure you that my mind is quite sharp." Said Lucius irritably, his eyes never leaving Hermione. "I was at the manor most of the morning dealing with paperwork for the estate, I then left twenty minutes before I met with Hermione and walked through Diagon Alley. No one caught my attention, other than Hagrid, whom I could not help but notice." He explained clearly, all evidence that he was under the effect of a potion gone. "I did, however, feel a slight tingling sensation as I opened the museum doors. Although, I accounted this for the fact that I had just spotted our dear Miss Granger." He added, Hermione certain now that the potion was still working.

"When you entered the museum?" Questioned Severus. "That would suggest that whoever cursed you knew that you were going there and lay in wait for you."

Draco and Snape continued to throw this idea back and forth but Hermione's thoughts had gone back to Zabini. It had taken her no more than five minutes to get from the Ministry to the museum, so that left Blaise with five minutes to have hidden himself after seeing her if he was the one who had cursed Ezra. It was possible, the fact that he spoke with her so close to when the incident occurred seemed to incriminate him further as it seemed a very clever thing to do to try and distance yourself from the crime. Of course, he could have always hired someone else to do it, but that meant a loose end that needed tying up, and she doubted Blaise would have taken the risk.

There was still one question though that she was yet to think of any answers to.

"How did they know we were going to the museum?" She asked aloud.

"I fear that is a question that could lead us to our culprit but could be difficult to answer." Said Severus dispiritedly.

"Then it's a good thing you're working with one of the best investigators around."

* * *

><p><strong>I've started reading 'The Bespoke Witch' (which I'm loving and wish I had more free time to read) but I'm baffled as to how someone manages to write such incredible chapters so fast. If only I could do the same!<strong>

**Not sure when the next one will be out as my work load has sky rocketed this term, but I'm trying to make myself write at least a pathetic 500 words a night so hopefully it won't be too long. (I'm also still not 100% on top of the plot so I do spend a lot of time just staring at the screen thinking.)**


End file.
